


This Is Our Family

by Angel_Dawn_Nimbus



Category: 9-1-1 (TV)
Genre: Abandonment Issues, Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, Dad Evan "Buck" Buckley, Found Family, Getting Together, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-23
Updated: 2020-03-04
Packaged: 2021-02-28 04:28:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 30,702
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22867876
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Angel_Dawn_Nimbus/pseuds/Angel_Dawn_Nimbus
Summary: Buck has a daughter with Dyspraxia who goes to the same school as Christopher. He and Eddie meet at pick up the day before Eddie starts at the 118.
Relationships: Athena Grant/Bobby Nash, Eddie Diaz/Shannon Diaz (past), Evan "Buck" Buckley/Ali Martin (Past), Evan "Buck" Buckley/Eddie Diaz, Henrietta "Hen" Wilson/Karen Wilson
Comments: 64
Kudos: 624
Collections: 9-1-1 Tales





	1. Meet Charlotte Jane Buckley

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: My knowledge of Dyspraxia (DCD) has come from my own research. If I have gotten anything wrong please tell me and I'll be happy to correct it. 
> 
> I wanted to step out of my comfort zone a little and try something a little new.

Buck hadn’t been expecting Ali to tell him she was pregnant. He was only nineteen when they got the news. He was studying a degree in Fire Science. He had wanted to be a firefighter since he was a pre-teen before that it was doctor just like his Dad. Yet he had barely started living yet and he was going to be a father. Don’t get him wrong, he was excited. He adored children, but he hadn’t been expecting to be a father this early on in his life.

He was going to be ready for whatever was thrown his way. He had started reading parenting books, doing all kinds of research. He was going to be prepared as he could be. He was going to do everything he could to help Ali out with supporting her and raising their baby.

His parents were shocked when he told them that Ali was pregnant. They had been supportive of the decision that Buck, and Ali had made to keep the baby. They hadn't been expecting a grandchild so soon, but they were excited. They had never been the biggest fans of Ali, but they were civil towards her. If she made Evan happy, then who were they to stand in the way of that?

Buck and Ali hadn’t even been together very long, maybe four months when she had told him she was pregnant. They had started off their relationship as a one night stand, but they had felt some sort of connection between them and decided to try make a relationship work. They were still finding their feet in their relationship when Ali found out she was pregnant.

They would make it work.

Buck had thought he was in love with Ali. They were completely different people, but they were happy together. Their little girl was due any day now. Ali had been placed on bed rest the last trimester of her pregnancy. She had been having a difficult time right from the beginning. It had caused some tension between them at the different stages.

She ended up delivering their little girl at 36 weeks. 

He had never expected to be a father at twenty but watching Ali’s baby bump grow as she progressed through the pregnancy made him excited for the day she was born. He would spend his nights reading to Ali’s baby bump and touching it, well when she would let him of course. She got a bit weird when he wanted to feel her baby bump, but Buck had just thought she was self-conscious of the way she looked.

They struggled a lot with finances in the last three months of her pregnancy. Buck tried to balance his time working, studying and looking after Ali while she was on bed rest.

Since Ali wasn’t allowed to work, they had to rely on Buck’s wages to keep them afloat.

They had struggled together, but it was worth it when their daughter was born.

_

The moment Buck held Charlotte Jane Buckley in his arms, he had completely lost his heart to her. She was one of the best parts of his life.

He had fallen more in love with Ali the day she had given birth to their daughter. He had thought they had become closer after the fact. 

The first couple of months Buck was living on not much sleep per night. Charlotte had spent some time in the NICU. Buck would balance his time at work, studying and visiting Charlotte. It was a relief once she was able to come home. Until she cried. All the time. Ali was getting stressed. She ended up snapping at Buck a lot. Things hadn't been great with their relationship for that period of time. They were trying to make it all work. 

_

Ali went back to work when Charlotte was three months old. Buck would have thought she would have wanted longer with Charlotte before going back to work full time. Buck had a feeling she just wanted to get away from the crying. Buck managed to look after Charlotte with his Mom’s help. He had learnt a lot being a stay at home Dad. But also, he had a feeling something wasn’t right.

While being at home with Charlotte, Buck began to notice little things about her development. At first, he just thought it was just something that happened with babies. They did things at their own pace. According to his Mom, Buck never liked crawling as a baby. He would instead shuffle on his bottom if he wanted to get somewhere. He shrugged off the little things that she would do as Charlotte just taking things at her own pace. That she’d get to it once she felt the need to.

Until some other things about Charlotte that didn’t quite add up. She hadn’t been meeting motor milestones like other children. To start with: she took longer to sit up, crawl than a baby her age should. While crawling, she would bump into things. It seemed her spatial awareness was off. He thought that she would need glasses to help correct her vision if she kept bumping into things.

She had more problems than usual trying to feed herself. He had started compiling a list not long after he started noticing the little quirks she had.

He was concerned, he didn’t know what was going on.

He was adding to his list, which was getting longer. He tried to tell himself that nothing was wrong, but there was always something niggling in the back of his mind. He didn’t know if he could ignore it any longer.

Buck had tried to bring it up to Ali more than a few times, but every time she seemed to just ignore the issue. When Charlotte was three Buck had finally made Ali sit down and listen to him about his concerns. He showed her the notes he had been taking but she waved him off. She told him Charlotte was fine. He was just being overly paranoid. There was nothing wrong with her.

Buck kept a closer eye on Charlotte than he usually would. He just wanted her to be healthy. If something was up, he wanted her to get all the help she could.

_

They had moved away from Pennsylvania and moved to Los Angeles when Charlotte was three. Ali had gotten a promotion that had forced them to move. Buck had just finished his degree which was good timing. Los Angeles had actually been at the top of Buck’s list. He wanted to work with the LAFD. Their program was one of the best in the country.

Seems like it was serendipity when Buck had run into an LAFD recruiter one day when he was taking Charlotte out for a walk. After talking to the man about what was involved, he decided to start his application to join the LAFD. He had to balance the training, studying, keeping himself fit and being a Dad.

He had met Carla, who helped him out with Charlotte when he was out at the Training Academy. He didn’t realize how much he would end up needing Carla.

He needed her more than ever when Charlotte was diagnosed with Dyspraxia.

_

On Carla’s first day with Charlotte she started pointing out the same things Buck had been noticing over the years.

Carla talked Ali and Buck into taking Charlotte to her Pediatrician. They then got referred to a specialist. They didn’t want to put a straight diagnosis on it, but they said she may have some form of DCD (Developmental Coordination Disorder) or what is known as Dyspraxia. Usually they’d wait until after the child was five years old to comfortably diagnose DCD, but at this stage she may just have it. It wasn’t very common for females to have DCD. It seemed to be more common in males. Females could still have it. 

After they had the vague diagnosis of DCD, Ali started pulling away. She would barely interact with Charlotte. It didn’t matter how much Charlotte cried for Ali’s attention.

Buck only had Carla to confide in. He hadn’t made any friends in LA yet besides Carla. He needed other friends. It wasn’t easy to find new friends when he was so busy training and being a Dad.

He had just been assigned to the 118 when everything went wrong.

_

Buck didn’t know what had woken him up. Something in the house didn’t feel right.

Charlotte wasn’t crying, that wasn’t what had woken him up. Ali wasn’t asleep next to him. That was a bit odd. He rolled over and turned on his bedside lamp. Things had been displaced around the room. There were a few small things missing, which was a bit strange.

Buck pulled himself out of bed when he noticed Ali’s suitcase was gone.

His heart sank.

He ran through the entire house looking for Ali, but she was nowhere to be found. He checked in the Charlotte’s room to see if she was still there. She was fast asleep in her bed. She didn’t know what was happening around her.

Buck picked up his phone and called Ali. She had disconnected her number.

She had left them.

Buck called his Mom.

“Mom. She left us."


	2. Meeting Eddie and Christopher

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for the support on the first chapter.

* * *

It had been three years since Ali had left them in the middle of the night. He hadn’t heard from her since. He knew what had happened. She had gotten scared after Charlotte’s diagnosis and just ran away. He tried a few times to get hold of her, but he always got the same result. She never replied to emails. Or this number has been disconnected. It was always the same.

Carla had been a Godsend. She had helped him so much after he had become a single parent. It had been tough that first year after Ali left. He was just starting out as a firefighter. He had been trying to balance everything. He was on his probationary period. He couldn’t screw up this job. He needed it.

After Buck had been assigned to the 118, he had found a new family in them. The first few days he was just trying to find his feet. Everyone seemed to think he was some dumb jock just looking for something fun to do. He’d show them what he was made of. He was there because he wanted to be. He tried to keep out of everyone's way and just do what he had been asked to do. 

Those first few days no one had really known that he was a single father. He had been keeping his head down and worked hard. He hadn’t really felt the need to bring it up to them. They didn’t really talk about their personal lives.

It was the start of Buck’s second week on the job and Carla had been out sick. Buck had no one else to watch her. He had to bring Charlotte into the station. He hadn’t known what would happen if he turned up with Charlotte. For all he knew he could have been fired for bringing her along.

He had been wrong.

After that day, Charlotte was always welcome at the station. Bobby made sure of it.

Bobby would steal Charlotte away from Buck and claim her attention every time. Bobby had fallen in love with Charlotte immediately. She had stolen his heart. He would read to her, let her help him in the kitchen. Bobby would always find something for her to do at the station. He'd even stay with her when the rest of the team went out on calls. 

Bobby had become an unofficial grandparent to Charlotte. Buck had found himself another father figure in Bobby. He would look up to Bobby for guidance. He had his own Dad, but it was harder with him being on the other side of the country.

Hen and Chimney also adored Charlotte. They would always try and take her away from Bobby to spend time with her. Hen had her own son, but she had melted when she had met Charlotte for the first time. Chimney would always play games with her. Their favorite was Snap. She would always squeal with excitement when she would win a round. To be honest, she had just liked smacking the cards. 

They now had a stash of children’s toys for whenever Charlotte was brought to the station.

_

Buck had now been at the 118 for three years. Charlotte was now seven. She didn’t ask after her Mom as much anymore. She doesn’t really remember her. Except that she had left her. There were some abandonment issues that they needed to keep working on.

Charlotte took after him. She had dark blonde hair and blue eyes like him. There wasn’t much about her that she had gotten from Ali. There were a few of her facial features such as her lips and nose that she had gotten from Ali. Everything else had been from Buck.

Buck had found the best school for Charlotte. They specialized in helping children with disabilities. Before that she was in a public school. He thought it would be good for her being with other children. Turns out he was wrong. Charlotte was singled out horribly by the teachers and the other children. There were times he would pick her up from school and she’d be in tears.

It took a few tears to Athena from Charlotte, to send Athena to the school to chew the principal out for discrimination.

The new school was better for her. She was happier and she was learning more without being singled out when she struggled with certain tasks. She had made a few friends that she sometimes talked about. He had met a few of them when they had play dates with some of the other parents. They didn’t have play dates with some parents anymore; some of the mothers gave a little too much attention to him instead of the children.

Buck was waiting to pick Charlotte up from school. It was only the second week of September. School, had only started back a few days ago. Carla had been picking Charlotte up the last couple of days. Since he had the day off, he was taking the opportunity to pick up Charlotte. He was waiting with other parents. There was a handsome young man who looked to be a little older than Buck. He was standing off to the side trying to hide himself away from the other Moms. Buck wove through the crowd to go stand with him. He looked like he needed a distraction from the Moms looking at him hungrily.

“Hey. You looked like you needed saving." The man was beautiful. He kinda took Buck’s breath away. This hadn't happened to him before. Not this instant connection to someone. 

His Hazel eyes were watching Buck warily. He was a bit suspicious of the attention he was getting. He was trying not to be noticed by the mothers. If he was talking to him, maybe he could be left alone by the other parents.

“Is it that obvious?" The man grinned shyly.

“Just a little. Don’t worry. They scare me, too." Buck brushed his shoulder up against the other man’s unconsciously.

“I’m Eddie." He stuck out his hand.

“I’m Buck. Nice to meet you, Man."

“What sort of a name is Buck?"

Buck laughed; wasn’t the first time he had heard that.

“Oh my god that was rude. I’m so sorry." Eddie looked flustered. 

“Don’t even worry about it. It’s a nickname. My actual name is Evan Buckley."

“And you decided to go by Buck?" Eddie froze and flushed an even brighter red.

“Man. It’s fine. I don’t even know how it started at this point. It’s just sort of stuck. It made it easier starting off at work with a nickname. Who knows what name they would have given me? We have a firefighter called Chimney. I still have no idea how he got that name. No one will tell me."

“Chimney is a bit more interesting than Buck I’ll admit. What’s his actual name?"

“Howie."

A rush of students started to come out of the building. Buck couldn’t see Charlotte through the sea of people. Buck and Eddie were waiting for a few minutes when Buck saw Charlotte looking around for him. She was standing with a young boy with a red pair of glasses and blue crutches.

“Lottie!" Buck waved Charlotte over. She was going to start getting worried if she didn’t find him soon. She liked being independent, but there was always that irrational fear that you had been left behind. She already had abandonment issues he always made sure to be at pick up on time when he had his days off.

“Daddy!" She was moving quickly towards Buck. She accidently bumped into someone when they walked in front of her which made her stumble a little, he stepped forward quickly and she fell into his arms. The boy she had been walking with had moved towards Eddie and clung onto him.

“How’s my girl?" Buck pressed a wet kiss to Charlotte’s cheek. She squealed in delight when he swung her into the air.

“Daddy! Put me- down." She breathed out between laughs. Charlotte only had a mild form of DCD. Her speech wasn’t affected by her Dyspraxia. Yet there would be times she would stumble over certain words. Then there were also a few moments where she had to focus to say what she wanted. Some people would get impatient talking to her sometimes and just walk away because she was taking too long to reply. It broke his heart when that happened. She didn’t speak until she was almost three. She would mostly just babble to communicate, he had to learn to interpret what she was trying to tell him.

It never worried him that she was taking her time at talking. She’d get to it eventually. It had bothered Ali. Ali kept getting frustrated with her. That caused a few fights between Buck and Ali.

Charlotte’s first word was Daddy. He would tell her everyday that Daddy loved her.

She went to a speech therapist once a fortnight and a physical therapist once a fortnight and an occupational therapist once a week to help with everyday skills Charlotte needed.

It was her spatial awareness and fine motor skills such as writing, tying shoelaces or using a knife and fork that caused her the most frustration. 

She struggles sometimes with reading and writing; Buck would sit with her on the nights when he wasn’t on shift reading together. He would also help her with her writing and other homework. There were days she’d get frustrated where she couldn’t get a word to come out the way she wanted it to. He tried to give her as much support without taking away any of her independence. There were times he had to hold himself back from helping too much.

The school had been helpful in guiding her. She still had her struggles, but she had come a long way since she started school. The therapy sessions would help her, some days she didn’t want to go. She would have one of her days where she just wanted to do everything for herself and just be left alone. Those days were hard on Buck. He would see Charlotte struggle and not be able to help her.

“Fine," Buck sighed. “I’ll put you down. But you know Daddy loves your hugs." He squeezed her tightly and placed her back on the ground.

“Daddy. This is my friend Christopher." She spoke slowly trying not to stumble over her words in excitement.

Buck crouched down in front of Christopher and held out his hand. He was a cute kid. From the corner of his eye, he could see Eddie watching him with a smile tugging at his lips.

“Hey Superman! I’m Buck. It’s awesome to meet you." Buck knew his daughter struggled a little with making friends. She had a few other friends at school, but she didn't talk about them much. She got along more with Harry and Denny. It was nice to see her with a new friend, he worried about her sometimes that she was lonely at school.

“You’re a firefighter?!" Christopher’s eyes had lit up with excitement. Buck had forgotten he had thrown on his LAFD shirt this morning. .

“Sure am."

“Dad is going to be a firefighter as well. He starts tomorrow."

Huh, small world.

Eddie had crouched down in front of Charlotte to introduce himself.

“Hi Charlotte. It’s nice to meet a friend of Christopher’s. I’m Eddie." Charlotte smiled shyly at Eddie and waved. She hid a little behind Buck.

“She’s a little shy around new people. She’ll warm up to you quickly though. She usually does with people she recognizes."

Eddie stood back up and turned to talk to Buck.

“So, firefighter huh?" Buck nudged Eddie teasingly.

“Well, I needed something else to do once I had left the army."

Christopher and Charlotte had turned away from their parents and were talking to each other about fish. Buck had taken Charlotte to the aquarium last weekend. She was still excited about it. From what Buck could hear they were talking about Finding Dory. Christopher was listening to Charlotte; he was jumping in a few times with his own favorite parts. 

“Wow an army guy. Never would have guessed."

“I was an Army Medic. I left the Army a few years ago and have been drifting ever since."

“I know what you mean. For a few years I was a stay at home Dad while my then girlfriend now ex went back to work. I wanted to be something more than a Stay at home Dad. Don’t get me wrong. I loved staying home with Charlotte. I love Lottie and I will always treasure that time I was able to spend with her as a baby. I had been studying Fire Science so I had to balance being a stay at home Dad and being a student. I had started studying before she was born. I will be forever grateful to my Mom who stayed with Lottie whenever I had to be in class. When Charlotte was three Ali and I moved to LA for her job. She left us not long after Lottie was diagnosed with DCD."

“I don’t understand people like that."

“I could have never done what Ali did. Charlotte’s my whole world. I could never leave her behind."

“Becoming a Dad changed my life. I’ll admit I ran scared back to Afghanistan. I don’t know what I had been thinking. I retired from the army and never looked back. Christopher has made me a better person." Eddie was watching Christopher and Charlotte with a small smile.

Buck could understand what Eddie meant by running scared. That knowledge that you are becoming a parent makes you want to run sometimes.

“Right, Miss. Lottie. It is time to go home. We get to see Grandpa Bobby tomorrow!"

Charlotte squealed with excitement.

“It was nice to meet you Eddie and Christopher. We’ll need to set up a play date."

“Bye Buck." Christopher waved.

“See you Buck. Here, we’ll switch numbers and we can set something up soon."

”Good luck for tomorrow at your new station. I’m sure you’ll be great."

They exchanged numbers and went their separate ways.

Charlotte waved enthusiastically to her new friend and his Dad.

Buck clutched onto Charlotte’s hand and walked towards his car.

He needed to see Eddie again. There was something about him that drew him in. He wanted to know more about Eddie. 


	3. How Do You Know Each Other?

* * *

“Miss Lottie. Let’s go see Grandpa Bobby."

Buck helped Charlotte out of the car. She put her backpack over her shoulders, it was filled with her coloring in books, paper to draw on, pencils, crayons, some snacks even though Bobby had some stashed in the kitchen for her. There was also her drink bottle and a book she wanted to read with Bobby. Buck grabbed his duffle bag out of the back and slung it over his shoulder. He held out his hand for Charlotte to hold onto while they walked together into the station.

She wasn’t going to be at the station all day. Carla was coming to pick her up at lunchtime to take her home. Buck usually wouldn’t work a Saturday shift, but he couldn’t avoid it. He was covering for another firefighter who was out sick.

Also, today they were finally getting their new recruit and Buck didn’t want to miss it. They had badly needed the help. There were days they had just been spread thin. It had always taken a lot out of them when they had to work for multiple people. Buck hadn’t heard anything about the new firefighter that was joining their team. Bobby hadn’t said much to them about it at all. He was keeping it from them for some reason. All he had told them was that they were finally getting one. They would usually have to borrow firefighters from other stations some days where they were short. It did get frustrating sometimes, having to work with people you weren't used to. Then extra crew just rotating through the station. It made it harder to mesh with people when you didn't really know their working style. 

“Grandpa Bobby!" Charlotte giggled happily when she saw Bobby standing with Hen and Chimney by the locker rooms. Charlotte dropped her bag onto the garage floor and started for Bobby.

Bobby turned towards the voice and walked quickly over to Charlotte. She would usually get too excited and charge across the station more often than not tripping over herself. There had been a few tears in the station because of this. Most of the tears came from Buck. He always hated seeing Charlotte hurt herself.

Bobby pulled Charlotte into his arms while Buck went to change into his uniform.

“My sweet Charlie. How was your first week of school?" Charlotte had stolen Bobby’s heart that first time Buck had brought her into the station. He had been panicked that he couldn’t get someone to look after her. Carla had been out sick and wasn’t able to watch her. It had only been his second week on the job. He hadn’t wanted to step on anyone’s toes. From the look in Buck's eye when he turned up with Charlotte, he looked terrified that he was going to be fired. 

Bobby had cut Buck off and just taken Charlotte from his arms and walked into the kitchen with her. Bobby had kept her entertained that day while Buck went out on calls. Bobby had to keep finding things for her to do. She would keep getting bored and wanted to do something else. Charlotte really knew how to tire him out. 

“I made a friend. His name is Christopher."

Charlotte started to tell Bobby all about her new friend and the things they did together at school. Christopher was her buddy in science class. She had cut herself off mid sentence when she looked up and saw someone across the room that she knew.

“Mr. Eddie!" She wiggled in Bobby’s arms and he carefully put her down. She hurried over. She ended up stumbling a few times in her rush to get over to their newest recruit Eddie Diaz. Eddie had shot a hand out to steady her as she stopped in front of him thrilled to see him again.

If Charlotte got too excited her focus was off a little and while walking or running, she’d usually stumble a little. Most of the time it was if an unexpected obstacle appeared. Such as a ball being rolled in front of her, someone stepping out in front of her. Her brain couldn’t send a message quick enough for her to avoid the obstacle which is how she would end up stumbling or walking into people or objects. She would always brush it off and keep going her mind set on the task at hand. 

Buck tried to explain that first day she only had a mild form of DCD. She struggled sometimes with her balance and some fine motor skills. It was mostly her spatial awareness and hand eye coordination that affected her day to day life. Her speech wasn’t affected by DCD, but Buck would take her to speech therapy to help with some of the words and sentences she struggled with. 

Bobby was standing watching confused as Charlotte rushed over to Eddie Diaz. How would she even know him?

“What’s going on?" Buck walked over buttoning up his uniform shirt.

“Charlie knows our new recruit."

“How would she even know..." Buck looked over to where Charlotte was standing. She was talking excitedly to Eddie. He was crouched down in front of her nodding and replying to some of her questions.

“Well, what do you know."

Buck walked over to the pair and greeted Eddie like they were old friends. How did Buck even know Eddie? How did Charlotte know Eddie? Buck had never mentioned his other friends outside of the 118. As far as Bobby knew Buck didn’t really have many friends outside of the 118. He needed other people he could talk to outside of the 118. Bobby knew Buck tried to make other friends, but not a lot of people wanted to hang out with him since he had to work around Charlotte. A lot of people didn't understand that Buck had different priorities to them. 

“What’s going on here?"

Hen stood next to Bobby. She was watching Buck and Charlotte talk to their newest recruit. Buck sometimes got a little territorial about new people coming into the station, but that wasn’t happening here. Buck was talking and laughing with him. From here she could see that Buck actually genuinely liked him. He was engaged in the conversation, he wasn't acting territorial at all. Buck wasn't even being overly protective of Charlotte. He usually was around new people. Charlotte was even happily talking to him like she had seen him before. It wasn't making any sense. 

“I have no idea."

_

“Why didn’t you say anything about joining the 118?"

Charlotte had asked Eddie if she could have a piggyback ride. She had looked up at him with her big blue eyes and he couldn’t say no. There was just something about Charlotte that drew you in. He gave into her and he helped her up onto his back.

Just yesterday Charlotte had been shy around him and now she was clinging onto him. What had happened in between then and now? He was totally lost. Right now he was just rolling with it. He'd ask Buck for an explanation later. 

“You didn’t say anything either. So, how was I supposed to know."

“That is a fair point."

They turned and walked over to the rest of the team who was just watching them surprised and a little confused. 

“Buck? I didn't know you had any friends outside of us." Chimney blurted out. 

"Chimney!" Hen hissed.

“Mr. Eddie is Christopher’s Daddy."

Bobby was about to say something, when Buck jumped in. 

“We met yesterday at school pick up. Turns out Lottie and Eddie's son Christopher are friends."

The alarms rang out. They would always startle Charlotte a little. The first time she had ever heard the sound, she had cried and hid herself behind Bobby. Now she was pressing her face into Eddie's neck, to try hide herself away from the sound. She still wasn't used to the screeching alarm, even though she had been around the fire house on and off for the last three years. 

“You guys go. I’ll take Miss Charlie here. See you when you get back." Eddie knelt down and helped Charlotte off his back. Bobby lifted her into his arms and Charlotte waved everyone off. The team hopped into the trucks and went off to their call.

_

“Am I missing something here. Just yesterday she was shy around me. Now she has made a complete 180."

“I did tell you yesterday that she warms up to people quickly."

“I didn’t think it would be that quick. She has already stolen my heart man. I don’t know how you say no to that face. I've only just gotten used to saying no to Chris, now I need to learn to say no to her?"

Buck started laughing at Eddie’s pleading face. He knew exactly what he meant. There were times it was hard to say no to Charlotte. He knew he couldn’t give in to her all the time. He had to be the responsible parent. Bobby hadn’t quite learnt how to say no to her either. He was at least trying to say no to some of her demands.

Eddie had already stolen Buck’s heart. He had no idea how that had happened. He had never fallen for someone this quickly before. He had never really labelled himself as anything. He was usually wary about new relationships most people tended to avoid him once they knew he had a daughter.

He had tried to go on a date a year ago. It had been fine. He had met Abby over the phone actually. She had been a 911 dispatcher. They ended up talking on the phone a few times before they decided to try going on a date. The date was ok. It had been more like two friends just catching up. He had felt that he and Abby had been more like friends than anything else. They mutually decided to stay just friends who just talked on the phone. She wasn’t living in LA anymore. She had gone travelling after her Mom had passed away. He hadn’t heard from her since.

Buck had the urge to ask Eddie on a date. He hadn’t felt that way in a long time. There had been no one that piqued his interest really since Ali. You could count Abby, but they never really clicked in the romantic sense. Yet, he didn’t know how receptive Eddie would be to the idea. He had no idea if Eddie was interested in men. 

“Charlotte has always been my world from the day she was born. I started to get excited for her when Ali first told me she was pregnant. It just didn’t feel real until I got to hold Charlotte in my arms. It never mattered to me that she had DCD. I was going to love her no matter what. Sure, we’ve struggled. But we made it through. After Ali left, that first year was hard. Charlotte kept wanting her Mom. She was only three. How was I supposed to tell her that her Mommy had left us?"

Buck felt a tear run down his cheek. It had been years since Ali had left, he was still angry at her for abandoning Charlotte when they needed her the most. It was hard not having his parents around for support. Carla had been a great support system to him during that time. So had the 118. He had needed his partner. Family support was different to the support of a partner. He still struggled sometimes. He was constantly learning about being a parent. 

“Sorry, didn’t mean to dump that on you." Buck cleared his throat. They were just pulling up to the scene.

“If you ever need to talk, I’m here for you. I think we can help each other."

_

They got back to the station just before Carla came to pick up Charlotte. Charlotte and Bobby were sitting at the dining room table drawing pictures. Charlotte would struggle sometimes when it came to holding pencils. It keeps making her frustrated. Her occupational therapist has been helping her with writing and holding pencils. It is a slow process. She loves drawing with Bobby, but she gets upset when she can’t hold the pencil properly. She mostly tries to copy how Bobby holds the pencil, but Charlotte gets annoyed because she is left handed and how Bobby holds the pencil doesn't feel right to her. 

“Hey Lottie. Are you having fun with Grandpa Bobby?"

The scene they had just gotten back from was a car accident. It didn’t take them long to clear the scene. Chimney and Hen had taken the patient off to the hospital while the rest of the team cleared the street. They weren’t too far behind. They were just pulling back into the station now. 

They were only a few hours into a 24-hour shift. Buck was ready for it to be over already. He just wanted to cuddle up on the couch with Charlotte and watch movies.

They needed to make a play date with Eddie and Christopher to go to the park. Charlotte asked him a few times last night when she could see Christopher outside of school. He was actually going to contact Eddie after his shift, but he now just needs to make time to sit down and ask him about it. It was early Spring. It wasn’t too hot, but it wasn’t too cool either. It was a good time for them to go.

He hadn’t taken Charlotte to the park in a while. She had been asking him about it. She loved going to the park, now they had an excuse to go. 

Buck bent down and pressed a kiss to her rosy cheek.

“Hi Daddy."

“What about your Uncle Chimney. Doesn’t he get any love?" Chimney sat across from Charlotte, jokingly pouting.

“Do you want to draw with us Uncle Chim?" Charlotte slid across a piece of paper and a pencil. Chimney grinned and started drawing... Something. 

“Where’s my invite? Buck, your daughter is playing favorites again." Hen grumbled she walked over and joined Buck and Eddie in the kitchen.

It was Buck’s turn to cook lunch. Bobby had been teaching him since he first joined the 118. He had gained some decent cooking skills the last three years. Now Bobby let him cook lunch twice a week. Sometimes he and Bobby would cook together.

“Not my problem."

“Yes, your problem. She’s your daughter." Hen sat down on one of the bar stools while Eddie sat next to her.

“It’s her decision who she wants to draw with Auntie Hen." Buck threw a piece of onion he had been dicing.

“Don’t throw food Buckaroo. Charlotte may get ideas."

"She isn't paying attention to us. She is so absorbed in what she is doing."

Eddie could see himself enjoying working here. They seemed like a close knit family. Hopefully he was able to fit in just as seamlessly. Working with Buck on the scene today reminded him of what he had been missing the last few years after leaving the army. 

While Buck was cooking lunch, Charlotte had come over to Eddie and roped him into drawing with her, Bobby and Chimney. He couldn't say no to her. It was just Hen and Buck in the kitchen. He could see why everyone adored Charlotte. Her eyes drew you in. They had that sparkle of mischief like her Dad’s did. Eddie had only just met her yesterday and he had already lost his heart to her. He could see how she, and Christopher had found themselves connecting as friends.

Eddie didn’t know what he was drawing. It might have been the 118 ladder truck. Sort of. He wasn't the best drawer. He was using a red crayon to draw what he thought was a fire truck. Chimney, was drawing a tree of some sorts. Bobby was drawing the 118 family with Eddie now included. Charlotte was drawing a cat.

“Daddy? Can we get a cat?"


	4. Trip To The Playground

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have never been to LA, all my knowledge is from research. If anything is wrong, please let me know and I'll correct it. I am from New Zealand. I have never been to America. The furthest I've been is Australia and Rarotonga.

* * *

When Buck and Eddie had finished their first shift together, they had started organizing a playdate for Charlotte and Christopher. If they didn't their children would be sure to keep asking about it until they made plans. They had made plans to go to the park on the next day off they shared which happened to be the following Saturday.

To be honest, Buck felt like he was more excited than Christopher and Charlotte were about this play date. He wanted an excuse to spend more time with Eddie. On the job just wasn’t long enough for him.

Buck always tried to take Charlotte out to do different activities, sometimes it was nice just staying at home, but there was only so much they could do at home without Charlotte getting too bored. Her favorite was spending time with her Dad at the different parks. He would try to take her to a different park each time, he knew how bored she could get going to the same park over and over again.

Charlotte needed more playdates. He didn’t want her isolating herself. She had other friends at school but she didn't really talk about them much. She spent more time with Christopher. Buck had Moms in the past wanting playdates with him and Charlotte. Buck knew that they were using their children as an excuse to try spending more time with him. On the playdates they had been more focussed on him and wanting to get in his pants than on the children.

Which is why Buck had stopped accepting invites from some mothers. 

Once he had met Eddie and Christopher, he had wanted to spend more with them. Buck felt like they were the missing pieces that he and Charlotte needed in their lives.

For the last couple of years Buck had been more focussed on getting Charlotte the help she needed for her DCD. He was just too busy to date. He had been happy in the past with it just being him and Charlotte, but there were times he was lonely. He had the 118 and their families, but it wasn’t the same. He knew he didn’t need a partner to complete him. He was happy with how his life was even if he was a little lonely. There was the potential that he and Eddie could end up as something great. 

For now, he was just happy being friends with Eddie.

_

“Lottie. Are you ready to go?" Buck called from the kitchen. He was putting together a backpack to take with them to the park. Eddie was bringing them a picnic to share. It would be nice to just relax in the park after the week they had at work.

Their plan was to at least spend a couple of hours at the park. They wanted to get the kids to release all their excess energy. Charlotte had been bouncing off the walls for the last couple of days. She was eager to go to the park and spend time with Christopher outside of school.

He didn’t hear her reply. Buck walked to the doorway of her bedroom and saw Charlotte sitting on the floor trying to tie her shoelaces.

Buck watched her for a few moments. She used to struggle with tying her shoelaces. Charlotte's Occupational Therapist taught her a trick to make tying her laces less complicated. She still has to be gently reminded on occasion about the techniques that she was taught. Sometimes she would get stuck then have to start again. 

She was concentrating so much that she hadn’t noticed him standing in her doorway.

“Baby? You ready to go?" Buck spoke softly. He didn’t want to startle her when she was distracted. He had done it a few times; he had scared her accidently and made her cry. It had torn his heart out. He hated seeing her cry. He had to learn to not startle her when she was distracted.

She looked up surprised and grinned at him.

“Ready Daddy!"

_

Buck pulled the car into the parking lot of the playground they were meant to be meeting at. Eddie’s truck still wasn’t there. They were going to have to find somewhere to sit while they waited for Eddie and Christopher to arrive. Hopefully, Charlotte didn't get too impatient while waiting for Eddie and Christopher to get there. 

“How about we go find some shade to sit under while we wait for Mr. Eddie and Christopher."

Eddie had tried to tell her that she could just call him Eddie. Buck thought it was cute that she was calling him Mr. Eddie. He had been teaching her that she needed to respect everyone around her and not just adults. He wanted her to be kind to everyone, no matter the circumstances. That hadn’t really worked when she had been bullied at her old school. Even then Charlotte had never been cruel to the people singling her out. She had just been lost that people were still being cruel to her no matter how kind she was being. 

Buck and Charlotte walked hand in hand to a shady spot that Charlotte had picked out. Buck put down Charlotte’s backpack and sat himself down and lay back on the grass and watched the clouds. Charlotte sat down on the ground beside her Dad and started rummaging through her backpack for her drink bottle.

“Daddy? When are Mr. Eddie and Chris getting here?" Charlotte chirped curiously.

“They should be here soon, Lottie. Don’t worry. They wouldn’t leave us waiting too long."

Charlotte started to get restless. She wanted to go play on the playground, but she also wanted to wait for Eddie and Christopher to arrive. Buck sat up and tried to distract her from getting too agitated. She more enjoyed playing on the playground than waiting around. He looked up and saw two figures walking towards them.

“Look Lottie. There they are now." Buck waved Eddie and Christopher over.

Buck pulled out the sunscreen and started to rub it into Charlotte’s skin. She hated this part of going to the park, but he didn’t want her getting sunburnt. Buck would sometimes take her to the beach, and they would go through a whole process of her running away from him when he tried to cover her in sun screen. The last time they went to the beach, they had gone with the 118 and their families. This had been before Eddie had joined the team.

Bobby was the one who had been roped into getting Charlotte to sit still long enough to put sun screen on. The whole time she had sat pouting at him and looking up at him with sad eyes. In her words she didn’t like the sticky feeling of sun screen.

Bobby bribed her and a little and said she could put some on him. He ended up with streaky white smudges on his skin. He also had to get her ice cream. Bobby can’t say no to her.

Buck had been laughing at Bobby. Bobby had a lot to learn. 

As Eddie and Christopher came closer Charlotte ungracefully got to her feet and went to greet the pair. She had shyly stood in front of Christopher. She had her arms held out asking for a hug. Christopher hugged her gently. Eddie was standing there with a small smile. She was a little shy about giving Christopher hugs to begin with. She would now always ask Christopher and Eddie if they wanted hugs before she forced herself on them. Buck had been teaching her about consent since she was little. She understood that not everyone wanted hugs and that was ok. She'd just have to greet them with a wave. She had then turned to Eddie to ask the same thing. Yet, he already had his arms out waiting.

Buck could hear Charlotte's excited chattering as they got closer. She was talking about wanting a kitten. Buck still hadn't given in. How long was that going to last? He would probably cave eventually. 

Charlotte was leading Eddie over by the hand, while Christopher walked beside them. Charlotte flopped down on the ground next to her Dad. 

"Daddy, can we get a kitten yet?"

"Uhhh." 

Eddie borrowed the sunscreen from Buck and layered Christopher in the cream. Christopher kept trying to tug away from Eddie. Seems like neither child liked the process of putting on sunscreen. He wanted to go play on the playground with Charlotte.

Eddie finally relented and let them head across to the playground.

“What is your prediction that they go on first?" Buck mumbled. Looking over at Eddie, who was laying out the picnic blanket he had brought along with him.

“Swings. They are Christopher’s favorite."

“Same with Charlotte. She always ropes me into pushing her on the swings. Also, she usually tries to rope me into going down the slide with her. One time I was terrified that I would get stuck."

Seems like they were both wrong. The kids went to the slide. Buck saw Charlotte hold onto Christopher’s crutches while Chris carefully climbed the stairs leading to the slide. Charlotte was watching out for Christopher, she looked focussed on making sure Christopher didn’t fall.

“Seems like we were both wrong. Do you ever worry about Chris falling and hurting himself? I swear I worry about Charlotte all the time. She just wants to try everything herself. I think my heart has stopped more than a few times at the park."

“Sometimes. He knows his limits. He knows not to climb high enough that he would hurt himself too badly if he fell. It’s nice to see them watching out for each other."

Charlotte had handed Christopher back his crutches and she had climbed up the steps ready to go down the slide. Christopher met Charlotte at the bottom of the side and Chris said something to her and they made their way over to the see-saw.

“Charlotte knows she has some limitations. She still tries to keep up with the other children. It is hard to watch. Sometimes the other children would end up leaving her behind. They keep deciding that she was unable keep up and decided that waiting for her just wasn’t worth it. I chewed into another parent that day. Made me feel a little better, but I still had to hold Charlotte while she cried. Kids can be so cruel."

Eddie sighed heavily and lay back on the grass.

“Yeah, they can be. Christopher is such a happy child, but sometimes he just gets torn down by other kids. He never does anything to retaliate, but he always stands up for his friends. He is more focussed on standing up for his friends than himself."

Buck and Eddie watched the Christopher and Charlotte decide that they had enough of the see-saw, and they made their way over to sit on the swings. There were a few other families scattered around the park. It wasn’t as busy as he’d been expecting for a Saturday morning. It was almost lunchtime. They’d let Charlotte and Chris play for a little bit longer before feeding them lunch.

Knowing, Christopher after having lunch, he would end up dragging Eddie over to play with him on the monkey bars. Christopher liked to play on the monkey bars. He would just need a boost up to get started. That was really one of the only times he would ask for help. On every other piece of equipment he would always try himself. It was good to keep up the strength in his legs if he climbed things himself. Eddie would always just keep a closer eye on him.

“How often do you bring Charlotte to the park?"

Buck and Eddie had been working at the 118 together for two weeks already. If anything, it felt like it had been longer. They just clicked. Buck and Eddie were always paired up on calls now. Most of their calls they had been on were car accidents, but one of their calls had been a young man who had a microwave cemented to his head. People were actually stupid. They had also received a call where a young woman had gotten her head stuck in a tailpipe. On purpose. Because she had been dared to.

That was a weird one. Eddie had to keep turning the group of girls down. Even Buck wasn't being left alone. The young women weren’t taking the hint. Eddie was mostly uncomfortable. He definitely wasn't interested. He had been trying to do his job, but they were not leaving him alone. It was making it harder to stay focussed on the job. Bobby and Chimney were no help. Neither was Hen. 

Eddie had been a single father for a few years. He and Shannon had divorced and once the papers were signed, she just up and left without another word. She had cut off all contact, that had been hard for Christopher. He didn’t understand why she had just left them.

“I try to take her at least once every couple of weeks. I’ve been trying to do different activities with her. Ones that will help with her coordination. My home health care aid Carla has been recommending places for me to try. I’ve been trying to get out and do things with her, but work has been busy. We’ve been spread thin. Thankfully, you’ve now joined us."

“What sort of things has she recommended? I might have to use some of those ideas on Christopher."

“The top of my list is the Kids’ Space Children’s Museum. She also recommended Tongva Park. Charlotte also wants to go back to the Aquarium. Once wasn’t enough for her."

Buck was watching Christopher and Charlotte carefully. He didn’t want either of them to get hurt. Charlotte could easily get distracted and end up hurting herself. When they went out, he always carried a first aid kit, maybe that was being a little paranoid, but it was always better being safe than sorry. Also, he was a firefighter it was always good to be prepared.

She didn’t always end up getting hurt. Most of the time she just got the occasional bruise, or she’d catch herself before she fell fully. She hadn’t broken any bones yet. He didn’t want to jinx it, but she was careful enough that she didn’t put herself into that sort of situation.

“We’ll have to take Charlotte and Christopher to the Kids’ Space Museum. It will be much more fun with the two of you joining us. She asks about spending more time with you and Christopher a lot."

Eddie was about to answer when Charlotte and Christopher had come back over to the picnic blanket.

“Dad. When can we have lunch?" Christopher slipped the crutches off his arms and sat down next to Buck. 

“Now if you want to. Then we can go and play." Eddie started pulling things out of the picnic basket. Charlotte had sat herself next to Eddie and Christopher next to Buck.

Eddie had made sandwiches and packed finger food. Eddie handed Charlotte over a sandwich. Eddie had asked Buck about what things Charlotte liked in her sandwiches. He didn’t want to make her something she didn’t like.

“Thank you. Mr. Eddie." Charlotte grinned at Eddie and took a bite out of her sandwich.

“Sweetheart, you can just call me Eddie. I don’t mind." 

Charlotte put her sandwich down on the small bamboo plate that Eddie had placed her sandwich on, she looked uncertain. She didn’t want to be disrespectful towards an adult. Her Dad had always taught her to be polite to everyone.

“Baby. It is ok. You can call him Eddie."

Charlotte looked like she was struggling. She didn’t know what to do.

“How about when you are ready, you can call me Eddie. No pressure." Eddie didn’t want to stress her out and make her feel pressured. He also didn’t want to make her upset.

Charlotte relaxed a little, but she was still on edge.

“Do you need a hug sweetheart?" Eddie held his arms out. He wasn’t going to push her. If she didn’t want one from him, he’d let it go.

Charlotte threw herself into Eddie’s arms. Buck smiled. It was nice to see that Charlotte had connected to Eddie. She didn’t grow close to people that quickly. She warmed up to people she recognized quickly, sure. But it was harder for her to fully connect with other people. She was scared of being abandoned by people she loved again. She must have seen something in Eddie and trusted him enough.

Buck turned away from Eddie and Charlotte. He wanted to talk to Christopher to try to get to know him a little better.

“Hey, Superman. I haven't seen you since school pick up that day. Have you done anything fun since?"

Christopher was talking to Buck about how he and his Dad had built a fort last night and watched movies. Until they both ended up falling asleep inside the fort. 

“I am never sleeping on the floor again. My back still hurts." Eddie grumbled.

“Awww, you poor baby." Buck mocked, jokingly.

“Charlotte and I haven’t made a fort in a long time. We need to do that again. Don’t we baby?"

Charlotte continued eating her lunch. Buck shook his head. Usually if Charlotte got distracted, she’d forget that someone had asked her a question. To be honest, he did the same thing.

They sat eating their lunches while every so often Charlotte or Christopher would start talking about a topic. They had decided to talk about bees.

Buck hadn’t wanted to show Charlotte The Bee Movie. It always creeped him out. She managed to sweet talk him into it. He would have rather watched Finding Dory for the millionth time instead.

“Can we go play now?" Charlotte started tugging Eddie in the direction of the playground.

Eddie heaved himself off the picnic blanket and started off towards the playground with Charlotte, leaving Buck and Christopher behind.

“Are you ready to go play Superman?"

“Not yet."

“What animal would you want to be and why?" Buck was always trying to figure out what animals his family would be.

“I think I would be a Dolphin. Racing through the waves. Dad has been trying to sign me up for surfing lessons. I am excited to try it. What about you Bucky?"

“Everyone always calls me a Golden Retriever. They are actually one of my favorite dogs. I’m more of a cat person, but I’d also love a Golden Retriever. It just wouldn’t work with my work schedule. Dogs need a lot of attention and they don’t like being left home alone."

Buck was watching Christopher. He wouldn’t have thought that Christopher would have said dolphin as the animal he wanted to be. He didn’t know Christopher very well, but he wanted to. Surfing lessons sounded fun. Buck hadn’t surfed in years. He tried once, it didn’t go well.

“What movie did you last see?"

“Daddy and I watched Dinosaur. He said he watched that when he was younger."

“I loved that movie. Charlotte and I watched Aladdin not too long ago. I’ve started to show her movies from when I was little. You, me, Charlotte and your Dad need to have a movie night and watch mine and your Dad’s favorite movies from our childhoods. Some of the best movies came out then."

“Like what?"

“Fox and the Hound, The Hunchback of Notre Dame is a good one. A Bug’s Life, The Iron Giant. There is a lot to get through. I can't even remember all of them. I haven’t seen some of them in years. We’ll have to get started soon if we want to get through them all."

Buck and Christopher sat in peaceful silence for a few moments watching the other families around the park.

“Can we go play now Bucky?"

“Sure can, Superman."

Buck helped Christopher to his feet, and they started heading towards Eddie and Charlotte who were playing on the swings. Charlotte had roped Eddie into pushing her. She would always want someone to push her. 

Buck was stopped by an older woman; she had a small boy with her. Buck was guessing was her grandson. The young boy was watching Buck shyly. 

“You have a wonderful family. It’s nice to see you all out together like this."

“Um. Thank you." Buck waved and continued his walk over to Eddie and Charlotte.

That was an interesting thought.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for the support on this story. When I started writing it, I had no idea if anyone was going to be interested or not. 
> 
> I have loved writing this story. I am still editing, I have the last two chapters to go over and add stuff to it, then do another edit to make sure I haven't missed anything. 
> 
> I should be uploading once a day. If I can't then it will be every other day. 
> 
> I hope you all enjoy the coming chapters. 
> 
> Every comment and Kudos I get makes my day. I don't expect them, but I do appreciate the support.


	5. Family BBQ

“Buck. Family barbeque tonight."

Buck was standing in the locker room putting on his uniform, to be ready to start his shift. Buck looked over at Bobby and nodded.

They usually tried to do a full family dinner at least once a month. Athena and Bobby’s home always ended up being the go to venue for these dinners.

It would be Eddie and Christopher’s first 118 family dinner. They hadn’t been able to have one sooner.

Buck had been told that they only started doing family dinners outside of work when Buck and Charlotte joined the 118 family. In the past, they never had any reason to get together. They had tried to keep their personal lives outside of work. The first family BBQ they had was for Charlotte’s fourth birthday. A month after Buck had started at the 118.

Buck had invited the team over for dinner to celebrate her birthday. Besides the 118 and their families the only other person there was Carla. Buck didn’t know anyone else in LA outside of Carla and the 118. He thought it would be nice to have Charlotte’s birthday as a large family dinner. They decided to have these get togethers at least once a month after that.

_

Buck been surprised after work the other day. He had just picked Charlotte up from Carla’s. He was tired from his long shift. He still had things to do when they got home. He just wanted to collapse onto his bed and sleep. Instead, he had to make dinner and get Charlotte ready for bed. 

He had not been expecting to find Maddie sitting on the front porch steps waiting for him to come home. She had jumped up startled when she had heard his car approach.

Maddie had finally decided to come to LA to what was supposed to be a visit. She ended up sticking around.

Charlotte always adored Maddie. Ever since Charlotte was little she would cling to Maddie when she visited. Maddie would always spoil her. It had been hard to explain to Charlotte that Maddie wasn’t able to come and visit her in the last few years. Buck didn’t want to lie to her, it was hard knowing his daughter was upset that she couldn’t visit Maddie. He never knew what to tell her.

When Charlotte had seen Maddie for the first time in years her face went from confused to ecstatic in a second. To start with she hadn’t realized that it was Maddie standing in front of her. She had squealed in excitement and cried when Maddie held her for the first time in over three years. Maddie didn’t want to let her go.

Buck had missed Maddie the last three years. There were times he needed his sister. He knew she had been trying to protect them from Doug by keeping him and herself away. Charlotte didn’t really understand why Maddie had been away for so long. All she cared about was that Maddie was there now and Charlotte didn’t want her to leave them again.

Buck had gently pushed Maddie in the direction of getting a job at 911 dispatch. She didn’t want to go back into nursing, she didn’t want to be constantly on edge about who was coming into the ER.

“Hey, Bobby. Do you mind if my sister Maddie comes? She’s barely been out of the house since she got here a couple of weeks ago. She’s only really been out of the house to interview for 911 dispatch and taking Charlotte to school. That’s really it. She needs to interact with other people. Not just me and Charlotte."

“She’s always welcome Buck. There’s no need to ask. And I think Charlie would get offended that I didn’t let her Auntie Maddie come."

Buck let out a laugh. That was true. They walked up the stairs into the loft where the others were sitting eating breakfast.

Buck didn’t even get a chance to sit down and join the team. The alarm decided to go off right as he was about to sit down. Buck groaned. He’d have to wait to eat now. He ran back down the stairs, rushed through putting his turnout gear on and jumped into the ladder truck. They were being called to a fire.

_

_Flashback_

_Maddie had started as a 911 operator a couple of days ago. It hadn’t been the best day to start. They had been hit by a 7.1 earthquake._

_The 118 had been called to a high rise that was in the midst of collapsing. It sort of looked like the Leaning Tower of Pisa._

_Buck and Eddie had been paired off to rescue a man who was about to fall out of a window. He had been pressed up against it. They were scared that the glass was going to start cracking before they got there. They needed to move quickly._

_While Buck and Eddie had been setting up the ladder, Buck froze. He could have sworn he saw Ali standing in the crowd watching the scene. Eddie noticed Buck stop and looked at him concerned._

_When Buck looked back, she was gone. He must have been seeing things. He knew she might still have been in LA. Her job was here. Well, he hadn’t seen her in three years. For all he knew she could have moved away. But who was that?_

_“You ok, Man?"_

_“I thought I saw Ali."_

_What if she had seen him and run away again? This wouldn’t have been the time or place to get into it, but what were the odds of her being here?_

_He caught another glimpse of her. This time she was leaving. He couldn’t chase her. No matter how much he wanted to. He had so many questions for her. He just wanted to know why._

_What ever questions he needed to ask her could wait._

_He had a job to do._

_If she didn’t want to see him, then he would just try to forget he ever saw her._

_

Buck had just picked up Maddie from the dispatch center and Charlotte from Carla’s. They were headed to Bobby and Athena’s to get ready for the BBQ. Bobby had asked him to turn up a little early to help with dinner prep.

Buck pulled up to Bobby and Athena’s. There weren’t any other cars there besides Bobby’s. Athena must still be coming off shift. Or stuck in traffic, the roads were still a bit precarious after the earthquake. Commuting took a bit longer to get to and from places.

“Come on Lottie. Let’s go help Grandpa Bobby."

Charlotte ran off ahead and rang the doorbell. Buck and Maddie followed behind her. Buck was making sure she didn’t trip and hurt herself. She hadn’t tripped and hurt herself on Bobby and Athena’s front steps before. He didn’t want her to start now.

Bobby opened the front door to let the trio in.

“Buck. Everything you need is on the bench. I’m going to have cuddles with my sweet Charlie. Maddie. I was starting to think that Buck and Charlotte had made you up. It’s nice to finally meet you. It is good to have you here. I’ve heard lots about you from Buck and Charlotte."

“Not quite made up. It is nice to meet Charlotte’s Grandpa Bobby. Would you mind if I join you while you lock Buck in the kitchen?"

“Really Mads? Lock Buck in the kitchen?" Buck muttered.

“Come on Auntie Maddie. Grandpa Bobby is going to read us a story."

Bobby scooped Charlotte into his arms and took her into the living room. Maddie followed behind a bit unsure about being there. Sure, she had been invited, but that was only because Buck had asked if she could come.

Buck walked into the kitchen and found the things that needed prepping. Bobby had left notes saying what needed to be done before things went onto the barbeque.

Buck was in his own little world while he chopped what vegetables that needed to be put on the grill. Bobby had already done some of his own prep. That stuff was waiting in the fridge ready to be put on the grill.

Buck could hear Bobby reading a book to Charlotte. He was even doing different voices for each character. Buck could hear Charlotte's giggles also coming from the living room. 

Buck heard the doorbell ring. No one got up to answer it. Buck grabbed a hand towel and wiped off his hands. 

Buck opened the door and Denny moved passed Buck quickly ready to join Charlotte and Bobby in the lounge. Typical. He was ignored. It seems he wasn’t as interesting as Bobby reading a book. 

“Hey, Hen. Karen. Come on in. You need to meet Maddie. She is in the living room with Bobby and Charlotte and I’m guessing now Denny. Bobby also got distracted by Lottie again..."

“Isn’t he always when she is around? How did you make such a cute kid, Buck?" Hen teased, giving Buck a one-armed hug. She let go and headed for the living room. 

“Don’t listen to Hen." Karen threw her arms around Buck in a quick hug, then looped her arms with his and they walked into the living room.

Denny had joined Bobby and Charlotte on the couch. Bobby had now switched over to the novel he had started last time. From what Buck could tell it was the first Harry Potter Book. Buck had been meaning to read those to Charlotte.

He had been reading her Nancy Drew books. Maddie had read them when she was younger. Buck would always see the books around the house when he was younger. At the moment he was reading her _The Phantom of Venice_.

Maddie was curled up on the couch watching Charlotte and Denny with Bobby. She had missed so much of Charlotte and Buck’s lives. She regretted the time she had cut off all contact with her family because of Doug. She was going to make up for it now. She wasn’t going anywhere.

Buck went back into the kitchen to finish prepping dinner. Everyone else had decided to sit and listen to Bobby read.

Athena arrived home and let herself into the house. Bypassing everyone and went to shower and change after her shift.

_

Buck had finished prepping everything ready for Bobby to take over. Athena had just walked back into the living room and joined Buck, who was just leaving the kitchen.

“How are you doing, Boo?" Athena tapped Buck on the cheek and went to check that everything was in order in her kitchen.

“Athena. Seriously? You don’t need to check every time I cook something." Buck grumbled, walking back into the living room.

They were waiting on Eddie, Christopher and Chimney. They weren’t supposed to be too far away. Maddie was sitting with Hen and Karen. She hadn’t wanted to impose when Buck had invited her tonight. No one had made her feel unwelcome. Hen and Karen had engaged Maddie in a conversation about her new job as a 911 operator. 

He had missed Maddie when they weren’t talking. He had wanted to introduce her to his family that he had made for himself. He wasn’t alone anymore. No matter what Ali had done in the past, he was grateful that she had given him Charlotte. He didn’t know what his life would be like without her. He didn’t want to know. He wouldn’t replace her for anything.

It was challenging being a single parent, but he had so much support around him. Everyone was willing to help him out in any way they could. There were still things he had to do by himself, but he always appreciated what help he could get. He would be drowning without Carla and the 118.

He had a feeling that Eddie had been struggling with getting help with Christopher. Buck didn’t know how to help him. Christopher needed more specialized care than Charlotte did. Christopher needed more physical therapy and Charlotte needed more occupational therapy. Buck didn’t know how to help. Eddie didn’t want to say anything. He needed to be able to help his son himself. Buck disagreed, everybody needed somebody to help them. He needed to talk to Carla about seeing if she could help Eddie get the help he needed with Christopher.

Speaking of Eddie and Christopher, Athena had just let them into the house to join the rest of the group that were scattered around the living room.

“Bucky!" Christopher made his way over to Buck and loosely hugged him.

“Hey Buddy. How was school today?" Buck sat with Christopher on one of the recliner chairs.

“We did a science experiment in class today."

Buck knew that Christopher and Charlotte had been placed in the same class. Most of the time they learnt together as a class, but they’d each get additional support as they needed it. Charlotte needed a lot more one on one help than the other kids.

Charlotte had a shorter attention span sometimes. She’d want to move onto something new not long after starting her first task. She and Buck would be reading together, then she’d want to go play together outside. Or watch a movie. Or throw a ball around. Sometimes it was tiring keeping up with her. It was hard enough sometimes coming up with things that they could do together.

As a baby she struggled with stacking blocks on top of each other and putting the different shapes into the cutouts. She used to try repeatedly and eventually notice that she needed to try a different slot. It was hard to watch. He’d have to let her try for herself, he couldn’t always intervene.

Charlotte was a highly intelligent girl. She just needed additional help doing certain tasks during school time. She would usually try herself first. Then shyly ask for help if she couldn’t get it just right. Her teachers had brought it up a few times at different parent teacher meetings.

Charlotte had trouble with handwriting at school. Buck had a few discussions with her teachers, Carla and her occupational therapist about what methods they could try in school to help take some of the pressure off. They recommended that Charlotte try writing with different types of pencils and pens. Buck had found kits online for them to try to see what suited Charlotte’s needs best.

Buck wanted to hold off on getting pens because he knew from his Mom that being a left hander, she would always get ink all over her hand from smudging the ink as she wrote. Buck knew that Charlotte would keep getting frustrated if that always happened. Buck had found different pencil grips in the shape of dinosaurs to see if that helped her any. She did like the dinosaurs. She was more excited about those than about how they were supposed to help her.

It had been a lot of trial an error as she grew.

“What science experiment did you do?"

“We learnt about volcanoes today. Mr. Daniels made one explode."

Buck remembered doing that experiment in school. His Dad had also done it with him when he was younger. His Mom hadn’t been impressed when they ruined her kitchen that day. It had made a huge mess that took a long time to clean up.

Bobby ended the chapter. He needed to start dinner. He got up to head out onto the back porch to fire up the grill. The kids were starting to get hungry. You could only distract them for so long. Even if it was Harry Potter.

“Daddy. Can I have a cuddle?" Charlotte was standing in front of him holding her arms. Buck pulled her into the crook of his arm, and she wrapped her arms around his waist and lay her head on his shoulder. The chair was getting a bit cramped with the three of them sitting on it, but he enjoyed the quiet moments he’d get holding his daughter in his arms. Christopher then decided he would also cuddle up to Buck. Buck pulled Christopher closer to his body. He was looking down at the two kids cuddled up against him. He heard a camera shutter go off. He didn’t bother looking up. He was just enjoying the moment.

Buck knew what that woman at the park was seeing the other day. Charlotte and Christopher looked a lot alike. They could probably pull off being siblings. He didn’t know if he ever wanted to leave this moment. Buck looked up briefly and saw Eddie watching him with a soft expression.

Buck smiled back and looked back down.

Buck could feel everyone’s eyes on him, but at this moment he really didn’t care.

He was making the most of this.


	6. Greenstick Fracture

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to @adamngoodbuck, @breakfastclubbing95and @afmece on Tumblr for Spanish help. I had a few options to pick from. If it doesn't suit the sentence and it needs to be changed you can message me on Tumblr @angeldawnnimbus, or find the post on the Buddie tag on Tumblr. 
> 
> Enjoy the chapter. I have edited this chapter to death, it seems. I have changed bits in it a lot.

* * *

They were in between calls at the moment. Buck was taking the time to reflect on being a Dad to Charlotte.

He was sitting on his phone looking through photos of Charlotte when she was a baby. He would look at photos of her almost every shift. He liked to remind himself how she had grown and how far he had come as a parent. He couldn’t believe she had already grown up so fast. It didn’t feel like it had been seven years. Charlotte had helped him grow as a person. Who knew what type of person he’d be without her? He had become a father sooner than he had thought, but he wouldn’t change anything about her.

The only thing he’d really change about the whole thing is the way Ali left her. Charlotte didn’t need abandonment issues at the age of three. She became clingy after that night. She had been terrified that Buck was going to leave as well.

It broke his heart every time she cried when he left to go on shift at the 118. She always wanted to go with him. After every shift, he’d walk through the front door and she would attach herself to him and not let go. Not that he minded being able to hold her. He would take every moment he could get. He missed her being that little.

He closed the gallery on his phone and was just staring at the home page.

His phone home page was a photo of the two of them from the Aquarium before the school year had started. Buck had Charlotte cuddled to his chest and he was pressing a kiss to her rosy cheek. Charlotte was grinning in delight; her blue eyes were sparkling. He had gotten a stranger to take the photo for him. It was one of those memories he wanted to keep.

He locked his phone and went to put it away when he saw the photo, he had chosen for his new lock screen.

His lock screen photo was now the photo Hen took at the family BBQ. It was him, Charlotte and Christopher, cuddling together on the recliner.

Buck couldn’t take his eyes off the photo. Hen had sent it to everyone after they all bugged her for a copy. He was going to get it printed and framed. He also had some photos from the park that they had taken of the four of them. He had started a collection of photos that he needed to get printed off. He needed to make the time to do it. 

“You looking at the photo I took at dinner the other night?" Hen came and sat down next to Buck. Hen leant into Buck and looked over his shoulder and saw the image on the phone’s screen.

_

When Buck had first started at the 118, she kept trying to convince Bobby that they didn’t need a new member. They were doing just fine as they were. Bobby would always tell her to give Buck a chance. He would surprise her if she just gave the benefit of the doubt.

He barely said much to them that first week. He mostly just kept his head down and worked hard. He seemed to be far more knowledgeable than some of the other firefighters they had in the house.

He wasn’t acting how she thought he would. He was twenty four years old. To her, he looked like someone who went out partying every weekend.

She hadn’t realized that he was a struggling single parent.

She felt a little guilty about stereotyping him on sight.

When she saw Buck rush into the station with a little girl in his arms, her entire perception of him changed. She saw how Buck interacted with his daughter. He was an attentive father. You could see how much he adored her. Charlotte clung to him when Bobby had finally let Buck have her back. He would play with her between calls, read to her, cuddle with her on the couch. Have naps together.

Hen had to admit she took a lot of photos of the two of them that day. She couldn’t help it. There was something about Buck and Charlotte that just pulled you in before you realized it.

She had to pull Buck aside and apologize for judging him so harshly.

That first day he brought Charlotte to the station, she had stolen everyone’s hearts.

Charlotte had warmed up to Bobby faster than she had her and Chimney. She wouldn’t say much to them. She only really spoke to Buck. Bobby managed to get a few words out of her. She was shy those first couple of visits to the station.

Each time she visited the station, she was always excited to be there. She would chatter away excitedly to Bobby, when he showed her the fire truck.

She loved riding in the fire trucks.

She was obsessed with pushing all the buttons. You couldn’t say no to her.

Hen had a new respect for him once she saw how he was trying to balance being a Dad and firefighter.

He wasn’t just some dumb kid trying out firefighting for the rush. He wanted to be something that his daughter was proud of. Buck became her dorky little brother. They didn’t always see eye to eye, but they loved each other unconditionally.

Buck and Charlotte had been something the team had been missing at that moment. She hadn’t realized it till then. They hadn’t become a family until Buck joined the team. Before they just worked together and then left after shift, Buck made them appreciate each other a lot more. They grew together as a team and as a family.

Hen had found a place where she finally belonged. Before Karen and Denny, she had been wandering lost. She never thought she’d find a family who loved and accepted her for who she was. Joining the 118 had been a struggle, she fought. She came out on the other side, happy with what she had found.

Bobby had changed after Buck had joined the team and in turn introduced Charlotte to the team. Bobby was lighter than he had ever been. Hen had never seen Bobby this happy before Buck and Charlotte had turned up.

Eddie and Christopher had just completed their 118 family. They were now whole.

Bobby had finally given himself permission to move on after he lost his family. He had found a family with Athena. He wasn’t replacing his late wife or children. He was moving on with his life. It had been holding him back for too long.

Bobby and Athena had only been together just over a year. They had just gotten married a month before Eddie turned up at the station. They had a small ceremony with Athena’s children, Michael, Hen, Chimney, Buck and Charlotte.

It was all they needed.

_

“What are we gossiping about over here?" Eddie sat down on the other side of Buck. He pressed himself closer to Buck’s side. 

Buck was about to reply to Eddie’s question, when his phone started ringing in his hand. Buck saw who was calling and his stomach dropped.

Buck cleared his throat and answered the phone thinking the worst.

“Hello. Evan Buckley speaking."

He had tried to speak strongly, but what came out was the opposite. Something had to have happened to Charlotte. His baby. They wouldn’t be calling him during the day otherwise.

_“Mr. Buckley. We have Charlotte here in the nurse’s office. She fell at recess and has injured her arm. It is possible she may have broken it."_

“What?" Buck croaked out. Hen and Eddie looked at Buck alarmed. They couldn’t hear what the voice on the other end was talking about, but Buck had gone pale. What happened to Charlotte?

_“She may have broken her arm."_

“I’ll be right there." Buck hung up the phone in a rush and made his way to the stairs. He was panicking. He knew he was panicking. His breaths were coming in shallow gasps. He was about to start hyperventilating if he didn’t calm himself down.

“Buck. Buck. Wait. Slow down. What’s going on?" Eddie gently grasped Buck’s arm. Buck needed to stop for a second. He needed to take a breath. He was in no state to drive anywhere by himself. Hen, Chimney and Bobby were watching them worriedly.

“Charlotte fell and they think she broke her arm. I need to take her to the ER."

Buck tried to pull himself out of Eddie’s grasp.

“Buck, _Mi Amor._ You are in no state to drive. I’ll take you. Bobby can you spare us?" Eddie had turned towards Bobby. Eddie needed to go with Buck. He needed to see for himself that Charlotte was ok. He needed to be there for them. He was trying not to panic. It wouldn’t do them any good if he was also panicking.

“Go. Call us with any updates."

Buck and Eddie ran towards the locker room to grab Buck’s wallet with Charlotte’s insurance card and the keys to Eddie’s truck. They would pick up Buck’s car later.

Buck sat in the passenger seat and started fidgeting. He was worried about his baby. He didn’t want her to be all alone. Logically, he knew that she wasn’t alone. But he was terrified that his baby was hurt, and he wasn’t there for her. Buck knew that Christopher would be refusing to leave Charlotte’s side. They had become best friends from that first day they met. They were inseparable.

“Buck. She’s going to be ok. We’ll be right there with her."

“She’s never broken a bone before. All the injuries she’s had related to her DCD are bruises and scrapes. She must be so scared."

“You know Christopher will be with her. He’ll watch over her. You know he loves her."

Buck tried to smile. Buck knew that Christopher adored Charlotte. They were more like close siblings than they were best friends. Even if Christopher was there, he was still going to worry about his baby.

Eddie squeezed Buck’s hand, in a show of support. He then moved his hand back to the steering wheel to get them to the school safely. If Eddie went a little faster than the speed limit, then no one had to know.

_

They pulled up to the school and rushed into the office. Buck was panicking more as he couldn’t see Charlotte anywhere. The only other person in the room was the receptionist.

“I’m here to pick up Charlotte Buckley." Buck started tapping his fingers quickly against the desk. Eddie took Buck’s hand in his and wove their fingers together and squeezed.

“She’s waiting for you. You can head on through to the nurse's office. Second door on your right."

Buck led Eddie down the hall and found the door. Buck barged into the office. There was no way he was waiting to see his baby. Eddie charged in right behind him. 

Eddie had been right. Christopher wasn’t going to leave Charlotte’s side. Christopher was sitting next to Charlotte stroking her hair gently. She had her right arm cradled against her stomach.

“Lottie!" Buck let go of Eddie’s hand and fell to his knees in front of Charlotte cupping her face in his hands.

“Daddy. Eddie. It hurts." She whimpered and reached out for her Dad. A tear ran down her cheek. Buck’s heart shattered. Eddie stood back looking lost. He didn’t know how he could help. He wanted to hold her, but right now she needed Buck.

Buck scooped her up gently into his arms and started to make his way out of the office.

“Eddie." She cried out. She reached out to him from Buck’s arms. Buck stopped and waited for Eddie to come over to them. Eddie pressed a kiss to Charlotte’s forehead and then let Buck carry her out of the office.

Eddie had picked up Christopher, pressed a kiss to his temple. He picked up Christopher’s crutches on the way out. Eddie quickly signed both the kids out. Buck was too distracted with trying to calm Charlotte down that he had completely forgotten.

“Is Charlotte going to be ok?" Christopher watched Buck and Charlotte worriedly. Buck was waiting by the truck for Eddie to unlock it.

“We’ll make sure of it. She won’t be alone. She has us."

_

They were sitting in the waiting room of the ER, Buck had Charlotte cuddled to his chest, making sure not to jostle her injured arm.

They had already been there for two hours. Charlotte was trying to nap in Buck’s arms. She couldn’t get much sleep with the pain in her arm.

Eddie had realized at the hour mark that he had called Buck his love. He hadn’t even realized that he had fallen in love with Buck. He knew that they had gotten close, but he didn’t realize that his feelings had gotten that deep.

It had given him some clarity he needed. He was completely in love with Buck. He knew that it was Charlotte that had completely stolen his heart first.

He needed them in his life.

He wasn’t going to say anything to Buck. He wasn’t sure if Buck would be receptive to the idea of Eddie being in love with him.

He would try being just the best friend.

If it would keep Buck and Charlotte in his life, then that had to be enough.

Christopher was trying to read. His eyes kept flickering from his book to Charlotte and Buck. 

Buck shifted a little and accidently brushed Charlotte’s injured arm.

Charlotte whimpered at the pain that shot through her arm.

“I’m sorry baby. I didn’t mean to." Buck brushed a kiss to Charlotte’s hairline. She curled in tighter to her Dad. She didn’t want to be in pain anymore. She wanted to go home.

“Charlotte Buckley."

_

They took Charlotte in for an X-ray then it was more waiting around. They had given Charlotte a mild painkiller to help take away some of her pain.

Buck was lying on the bed with Charlotte wrapped in his arms. Eddie and Christopher were sitting in a chair together by the bed watching the father and daughter with worried eyes.

Charlotte had been trying to sleep after her X-ray, but she couldn’t get comfortable, even though she was in her Dad’s arms.

“Thank you for being here with us. I don’t want to know what our lives would be like without you." Buck looked over at Eddie and Christopher.

“It’s been just us for a long time. We weren’t expecting you two. You’ve made our lives better."

“Well, it isn’t just you two now. You have us and the rest of the 118."

Eddie smiled at Buck. Buck was right. He and Christopher had more family now than they ever had. He had chosen to love the members of the 118 and they had accepted him and Christopher with no questions asked. Their job as firefighters may be hard, but there was so much warmth in the fire station. They all supported each other through the tough calls. Even when they thought they needed to be alone, there was always someone who would be there as shoulder to cry on.

“Miss Buckley is going to need a cast." Charlotte’s doctor walked into the room with the X-ray of Charlotte’s arm and showed them on the light board what had happened to her arm.

“Charlotte has Greenstick Fracture along her Radius. The bone bent and cracked as you can see here. There is some swelling in her arm that I am a little concerned about. She’ll need a splint for the first few days until the swelling goes down. Once it does, I’ll replace it with a cast."

Buck had carefully slipped off the bed to have a closer look at the X-ray.

The crack in Charlotte’s radius wasn’t too bad, but she wasn’t going to be happy having to be more careful with running around while it healed.

“I’ll go get a splint and fit it to her arm and we’ll send you on your way. You’ll just have to bring her back in a few days and we'll sort her out a cool new cast." Dr. Mason smiled and left the room to assemble the equipment she needed.

“I should call Bobby and let him know what is happening." Buck pulled out his phone.

“That’s probably a good idea. Bobby is probably stressing out at the moment."

Buck dialled Bobby and he picked up on the third ring. He could hear Hen and Chimney in the background talking.

_“Buck? How’s our girl doing?"_

The other voices on the other end stopped while they waited to hear what happened to Charlotte.

“She has a Greenstick Fracture to her Radius. She is getting a splint for the first few days just until the swelling goes down. Then they’ll replace it with a cast."

Buck pressed a kiss to Charlotte’s head. She was watching her Dad with sad eyes. She didn’t want to be injured. She wanted to be able to play like she usually did. A splint and cast would just get in the way.

_“Give her our love."_

“Will do. See you tomorrow."

Dr. Mason walked back into the room. She lay Charlotte’s arm on a small table and carefully slipped her arm into the brace making sure it was in the correct position. She tightened the straps on the splint.

“How does that feel? Is it too tight?"

“It’s ok." Charlotte mumbled pressing her face into Buck’s chest.

“If you have any concerns or the swelling gets worse. Call us or bring her straight back in. We want to get her healed right back up."

Dr. Mason had been Charlotte’s doctor since Charlotte was 4. They had called her down to the ER once they other Doctors noticed that she was Charlotte’s preferred doctor.

“Thank you, Dr. Mason. We’ll see you in a few days."

Buck stood up and shook Dr. Mason’s hand.

Charlotte clutched onto her Dad’s hand as they walked out of the hospital. Eddie and Christopher were following behind.

They were back at the truck.

“Shall we go get some ice cream, _Dulzura_?" Eddie bent down and whispered loudly to her. 

“Yes, please. Eddie." Eddie pressed a kiss to her forehead and carefully lifted her into the truck. Buck was helping Christopher into the truck over on the other side.

“Ice cream it is."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all the support. 
> 
> I have loved writing this story. I am still editing the last couple of chapters. I am going to go crazy at some point. 
> 
> If anything needs to be changed please let me know.


	7. It Like Seems My Kid Wants Us To Date

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is Chapter 7, thank you everyone for the positive feedback you have given this story. I have greatly appreciated it all. It's going to be hard finishing this story. I have fallen in love with Charlotte and love writing her. Writing stories without her in it is going to be hard.

* * *

Eddie had been thinking about trying to ask Buck out on a date. It had been going over in his head for a while. He had only just realized he had been in love with Buck from almost the start. He didn’t want to hide it from Buck anymore. He didn’t know how he would react.

Did he actually want to take the risk at a chance at happiness with Buck and Charlotte?

Absolutely.

He was just a little terrified.

Ok, a lot terrified.

He just didn’t know how Christopher would react to Eddie wanting to date again. Christopher had never mentioned Eddie dating anyone new before. What would Christopher think about him dating Buck? Would Buck even want to date him? Would Charlotte want Eddie to date her Dad?

He had been second guessing himself constantly.

Eddie had been sitting with Christopher at their dining room table. They had been coloring in together. Eddie was using one of Christopher’s animal coloring in books and he was coloring in a picture of a horse. Well, trying to. His mind kept wandering. It kept wandering back to Buck. He couldn’t help it.

Christopher was coloring in a picture of a fire truck. Ever since Eddie had become a firefighter Christopher had become more obsessed with fire trucks and everything there was to do about firefighting.

He had even been asking for a toy fire truck. Eddie would have to start looking into that one.

“Dad?"

“Hmm Mijo?" Eddie turned his focus to Christopher. Christopher was fiddling with a red colored pencil.

“Are you going to ask Buck on a date?"

Eddie froze, and then his mind started racing. He hadn’t been expecting that out of Christopher. He hadn’t realized that Christopher had been thinking about that. Had Christopher picked up on his interest in Buck?

“Would that be ok with you?" Eddie flushed a light pink and cleared his throat.

“You should do it, Dad."

Did he want to risk their friendship like this? They had a good thing going right now. Did he want to do anything to mess it up? Buck had never mentioned anything about being interested in men. He had never given off any hints that he was interested in Eddie. 

He might as well try. What’s the worst that could happen?

He knew he was in love with Buck, he just didn’t know how Buck felt. It wasn't just him, he had to think about what Buck wanted. Then also what the kids wanted. He had Christopher's go ahead, but Charlotte needed to voice her opinion, too. 

He didn’t want to lose Buck’s friendship. Buck’s friendship is something he wanted to hold onto. They had only just found each other. He didn’t want to tear them apart now that they had all found each other.

Great.

He had to get rid of his anxiety and he then he needs to get up the nerve.

This was going to go well…

_

How did he even go about asking Buck on a date?

Eddie had been so lost in his own head all day. He had been unconsciously avoiding Buck during their shift together. Eddie had been on autopilot most of the day. He had only really spoken to Buck if necessary. Most of that had been during their calls. Buck had definitely started to notice.

He hadn’t wanted to give away his thoughts. He thought he had been hiding it pretty well, but Buck kept sending him hurt looks when they’d catch a glimpse of each other.

He didn’t want to hurt Buck. The whole avoiding him wasn’t helping. Not that he meant to avoid Buck in the first place. It had just happened. 

This wasn’t working.

Even Hen and Chimney had started to question what Eddie was up to. Hen had already pulled him aside twice to chew him out in a way.

Buck knew something was up and Eddie was just making the whole thing worse by avoiding him.

Eddie had to go talk to Buck and tell him that it wasn’t his fault that Eddie was avoiding him. He was just working up to something. It was hard to put himself out there when he knew he could lose everything.

“You can’t avoid him forever." Bobby gave Eddie a knowing look. Did everyone know what he was going through?

“I wasn’t even trying to avoid him. It just happened. I want to talk to him. I just don’t want to make things worse.”

“Buck is a good man. He needs to know that you see him. Not just Buck the single parent. He is important, too. He needs to be reminded of that more. He needs to know that you won’t just up and leave him and Charlotte like Ali did."

Eddie knew where Bobby was coming from. It was hard being a single parent. People never saw you. They just saw the child and would make assumptions. People usually ran in the opposite direction once they found out you had a child. He knew how hard it was when the person you thought loved you, left you alone. They abandoned the child you made together. Like the two of you weren’t enough for them anymore. 

“How do I even start that conversation?"

Bobby smiled softly and patted Eddie on the shoulder.

“You’ll figure it out. Just don’t leave him hanging for too long."

_

“Buck? Can we talk?"

Buck looked up from his shoes. He was changing from his work boots to a pair of sneakers.

“Ok, I guess. I don’t know why you were avoiding me today. I didn’t want to hound you. I wanted to give you the space I thought you wanted and needed."

Buck was rambling. He was trying to understand why Eddie had been avoiding him. He didn’t want to overwhelm Eddie and make Eddie upset with him.

“Will you go on a date with me?"

The words came out all on their own. He had tried to speak calmly but turns out that wasn’t what happened. His heart was racing. He was waiting for Buck to say something. He just wanted to know either way. He would make his peace with it if Buck said no.

Buck looked surprised.

“That’s it? That was the whole reason you were avoiding me today?" Buck lips were twitching into a smile.

“It seems like my kid wants us to date." Buck got up from the bench and started to walk towards Eddie.

“Well, it can’t just be about what Christopher wants. What do you want Diaz?"

“Don’t call me Diaz."

Buck stopped in front of Eddie.

“You didn’t answer my question... Diaz."

Eddie cupped Buck’s face in his hands, watched Buck carefully for a moment and caught Buck’s lips with his own.

“Not in the firehouse!" Bobby hit the glass of the men’s changing room, not hard enough to break it of course, but just enough to startle Eddie and Buck.

They pulled apart.

“I guess that answers my question.” Buck rubbed his lips together. He had a sort of dazed look on his face.

“Guess it does."

_

“What do we even do on a date? I haven’t dated properly since Ali. Abby doesn’t really count. It was barely a relationship in the end. We only had one date. After that we just decided we’d be better off as friends. Then we have mine and Ali’s relationship. It was sort of rushed along with the appearance of Charlotte. After we found out that Ali was pregnant, we tried to go out on dates, but Ali had a difficult pregnancy. She was on bed rest the last three months. Ali hated it. She wasn’t even allowed to work from home. Too stressful, apparently. I tried to come up with dates we could have at home, but there are only many romantic dates I could come up with that we could do at home. And before you say anything, we couldn’t do that. There were a lot of restrictions put in place by her Doctor."

Buck had been pacing up and down Maddie's living room, venting to Maddie. He had a lot of frustrations to get out. It had all been building for a while. No one really talked to him about this sort of thing.

“Buck. You can’t compare dating Ali to dating Eddie. Ali isn’t in your life anymore. Your relationship with Eddie is completely different to how your relationship with Ali was. And I don’t mean that dating a male verses dating a female thing. You are at a different point in your life than when you were dating Ali. Things are different now. You have more options now than you did back then. I have a few ideas if you want my help. You could always go out to dinner. Or maybe having a picnic on the beach at sunset? If you really need ideas."

Buck flopped back on the couch. Maddie was right. Buck was sort of comparing them. Not that he was doing it on purpose. He really hadn’t dated anyone seriously since Ali and he didn’t know how to date anymore.

“That is actually a good idea. I’ll do that. Thanks, Mads. Love you."

Buck rushed out the front door. He had some planning to do.

_

Eddie thought that he was meant to be the one planning their first date since he was the one to ask Buck out. He had even started coming up with a few ideas, but Buck had asked if he could be the one to plan.

That took some of the pressure off Eddie. Now Eddie was curious about what Buck had planned for them. It could literally be anything at this point. What would Buck even plan for a first date? He’d have to put some of his own date plans on the back burner.

They were both sort of at a loss about how to jump back into the dating pool. It was hard when you had been single for so long.

A year after he and Shannon had gotten divorced, Eddie’s sisters had set him up on blind dates because they had decided Eddie was lonely. They had just wanted him to be happy, even though he didn’t want to be set up by his sisters. He didn’t know what kind of people they would be setting him up with.

The dates had been horrible. He hadn’t clicked with anyone at all. He hadn’t been ready to date. Also, the woman tended to clam up once they found out he had a son. Especially a child with CP. He mostly got a lot of pity from them. They kept acting like Christopher was a burden on Eddie.

Eddie never knew how to react to that. He didn’t want to be outright rude. He usually would politely excuse himself and just up and leave after that happened. Christopher always came first.

It wasn’t easy when you were a single parent. Not everyone was understanding. A lot of people Eddie had come across, had wanted the focus on them and not the knowledge that there was someone who they had to compete with for attention. Those people he politely bailed on.

Luckily, Buck and Eddie had found each other. They were already best friends. They were now just adding a new component to their relationship.

“Dad. You ready for your date with Bucky?"

Christopher was sitting on Eddie’s bed watching his Dad trying to pick a shirt to wear. He was already wearing a pair of black jeans, he just needed to find a nice shirt to go with it. Why was this so complicated? It shouldn’t be this hard to pick something to wear. He was sifting through his closet looking for a decent shirt to wear. Maybe Chris could help.

“I need your help deciding on a shirt. Which one do you think Buck will like?"

Eddie was holding a dark red button up shirt and a black one.

“The red one."

Eddie shrugged and slipped the shirt on after he had pulled on an undershirt.

“Are you excited about hanging out with Charlotte and Maddie tonight?"

Maddie had kindly offered to babysit Charlotte and Christopher while Buck and Eddie went on their date. Eddie was meeting Buck at Maddie’s new place, then Buck was going to be driving them to their date. Buck was keeping his lips sealed.

Eddie still had no clues about where they were going. Apparently, Maddie knew. Bobby also knew. Bobby had been acting weirdly suspicious all shift today. It happened every time he looked at Eddie. Buck might have told Charlotte. Or maybe not. If he had told Charlotte, then Charlotte would have told Christopher today at school. Christopher didn’t know anything either.

He needed to hand over the controls tonight. He wasn’t used to this. Most of the time it was him that planned dates between him and Shannon. He needed to get used to having someone to look after him. To have his back. Buck was it for him. He knew that already. This first date was only really just a formality to what he already knew.

“Ice cream and movies!"

“I hope she feeds you dinner first." Eddie joked.

Maddie had asked Eddie if it was alright if she took Christopher out for ice cream with Charlotte after dinner. She hadn’t wanted to do something to step on Eddie’s toes. It was a Friday night; she was allowed to spoil the kids. Chris would probably be bouncing off the walls after tonight.

Christopher was sitting on the bed bouncing impatiently waiting for his Dad to be ready to go. Christopher had been ready to go for ages. He was excited to be spending time with Charlotte and Maddie. He had everything he would need for the evening waiting in a backpack by the front door.

“Dad. Let's go." Christopher got off the bed and started pulling his Dad towards the front door.

Eddie was kinda ready. He was mostly just nervous. He didn’t want to screw this up. He wanted to show Buck that he was going to be there for him no matter what.

_

Buck was standing in front of Maddie’s bathroom mirror fiddling with his hair. It wasn’t looking right. He had been trying to make it work for the last ten minutes, but he was getting a little frustrated. Why wasn’t it working when he needed it to?

He would be ready to go if he could make his hair sit right. This was actually getting ridiculous. Why was he spending so much time on his hair?

“Come here."

Maddie took a tiny bit of gel and ruffled it through his hair. She stood back and looked at his hair critically.

“Is Auntie Maddie being silly Charlotte? My hair doesn’t need that much thought does it?"

“Says the man who was standing in front of my bathroom mirror obsessing over his hair."

“Touché."

Buck turned to see Charlotte standing in the doorway watching the siblings with a twinkle in her eye. She looked as if she was going to start laughing at them any second. Buck bounded over to Charlotte.

“Daddy needs his cuddles before he goes out."

Buck lifted his daughter into his arms and nuzzled his nose against her cheek. She was squirming in his arms, trying to get away from the scratchy stubble. He smacked a wet kiss to her cheek. She giggled in delight.

There was a knock on the front door downstairs.

“Daddy. Put me down." Charlotte patted Buck’s cheek and started wiggling in his arms.

“Fine. But one more cuddle."

He held her tightly to his chest. He wanted to savor these moments he got with her. He didn’t know how long he’d have until she stopped wanting cuddles like this.

Buck finally let her go and followed Maddie and Charlotte downstairs.

_

Buck was crouching down in front of Charlotte.

“I’ll see you later, Lottie. Be good for Auntie Maddie. I love you lots." Buck pressed a kiss to Charlotte’s forehead and stood up.

“Bye Daddy. Love you." Charlotte blew him a kiss and went over to hug Eddie. She loved the hugs Eddie gave her, they reminded her of Dad hugs. Warm and safe. He would always squeeze her tightly to his chest and press gentle kisses to her hair. He would whisper some Spanish into her hair before putting her down. There was one word she recognized. He called her that after she had broken her arm. She needed to ask him what it meant. 

Eddie gently put her down so she could go over to Maddie.

“Chris have fun with Maddie tonight. Don’t let her have too much coffee."

“I do not have too much coffee Evan. I have a perfectly normal amount." Maddie scoffed. She was standing in her kitchen making dinner for her and the kids.

“Sure, you do Mads."

Christopher hugged Buck around the waist.

“Bye Buck," Christopher whispered. “What have you got planned for Dad tonight."

“Shhh. It’s a secret." Buck winked and led Eddie out the door. They headed off towards his car that was parked next to Eddie’s truck.

_

“No, really. Where are we going?” Eddie hopped into Buck’s car and buckled himself in.

“Like I told Christopher. It’s a secret. You’ll find out soon enough."

Buck drove them out along the coast. Eddie had a feeling they were going to the beach. Buck pulled into a small parking lot and Eddie recognized Bobby’s truck. Why was Bobby here?

Buck led Eddie down the path to where Bobby was waiting. Bobby had set up a picnic blanket, a picnic basket and a small portable lamp.

“Buck you owe me for this."

“Yeah. Yeah. You told me before. Just let me know how we can settle up."

Bobby waved to the pair and started heading back up the path back to his truck. He had plans with Athena for tonight that he needed to get to.

“You roped Bobby into helping you with this?" Eddie muttered laughing.

“You better appreciate it. He’s probably going to put me on scut work now."

Buck grumbled jokingly and sat down on the picnic blanket.

“Probably. You did drag him away from his evening with Athena to come all the way out here to help you."

Eddie sat down across from him and Buck shoved him playfully.

“What do you have for us Mr. Buckley."

Buck pulled a face.

“Yeah. No. Don’t call me that. It doesn’t sound right."

Buck started pulling out food from the basket. As well as a bottle of lemonade.

“I’m driving." It was the only explanation Buck gave.

Eddie huffed out a laugh and poured each of them a drink.

Buck had made the food earlier today and gotten Bobby to drive all the way out here to set up, while Buck took Charlotte to Maddie’s and then got ready for his date with Eddie.

They sat on the picnic blanket eating and talking, they were using the time to open up to each other about their struggles being single parents. Buck talked about trying to come to terms that Ali had left him. He had just sort of stared into space until Charlotte had woken up the next morning. He still hadn’t been able to process what had happened. Charlotte had kept asking for her Mom and Buck had tried to explain to Charlotte that her Mom was gone. Charlotte waited for her for days to come back. Buck had been at a loss on how to help her.

He was all alone in a new city. He only had Carla for support. 

Carla had helped Charlotte adjust to not having her Mom around. Buck had to remind her every day that he was still there. He wasn’t going anywhere if he could help it.

Carla had helped Charlotte get the help she needed for her DCD. She had helped when Buck had to move Charlotte to a new school.

Carla had been everything he needed for Charlotte in that moment.

Buck asked if Eddie wanted to be introduced to Carla. To see if Carla could help Eddie out with any concerns he had about Christopher’s care. Eddie had been a little hesitant to say yes. He’d think about it. Eddie told Buck he wouldn’t be opposed to meeting Carla. Maybe that would help give him some perspective.

Eddie talked about his relationship with Shannon. He had just come back from his first tour in Afghanistan when he met her for the first time. Their relationship had been a whirlwind. They hadn’t been able to keep their hands off each other. That all changed when they had found out Shannon was pregnant; Eddie didn’t know what to do. He was still in the middle of his tour; he couldn’t quit now. He wasn’t able to. Instead, what they decided on, was to get married. He had thought it was the right thing to do at the time.

Shannon had gone into labor while he was still in Afghanistan. She had a traumatic birth and Christopher had gotten stuck in the birth canal. The CP diagnosis hit them both hard. Eddie had run away back to Afghanistan while Shannon had no choice but to stay and watch their son. Eddie came back sporadically during his tours. It had been causing a lot of tension between the couple. After he had finished out his last two tours. He ultimately ended up deciding to retire from the army. But that hadn’t been enough for her.

When Christopher was four Shannon left them to go look after her Mom who had fallen ill suddenly. She decided, instead of asking him to come with her. She had served him with divorce papers. She had completely blindsided him. He hadn’t thought they had been that close to divorcing. He had tried to make it work after he had retired from the Army, but she ended up leaving them anyway.

He will be forever grateful for his parents helping out while he struggled to learn how to be a single parent with a child with CP. When he decided to move to LA his parents and sisters tried to talk him out of it. He needed to do it for himself. He had been lost for a long time. He needed to get away and he decided on LA.

Eddie will never regret moving to LA. He finally found what he had been looking for with Buck and Charlotte. He loved his job. But Buck and Charlotte had made LA feel like home.

Buck and Eddie tidied up the picnic and put everything into the car.

“Let's go for a walk."

They walked down the beach hand in hand. It was a nice clear night with a cool breeze. They had taken off their shoes to feel the sand beneath their feet.

They didn’t have to pick up their kids for a while they still had time to enjoy their evening together. It was nice and peaceful having an evening off with just the two of them. Eddie didn’t get to do it often; he would usually spend his free time off with Christopher. Or grocery shopping. He also hated spending his time doing chores, it always took up too much of his free time.

Eddie also knew that Buck didn’t get much time for himself. He never heard Buck complain.

They were sitting watching the waves crash against the shore. Eddie pressed a kiss to Buck’s temple and leant into him.

“Did you call me your love a couple of weeks ago? I’ve been meaning to ask, but I just thought I had been imagining things."

Eddie’s heart stopped. He hadn’t realized that Buck actually heard him. It had been a slip of the tongue. But that didn’t mean it wasn’t real.

“I did."

“I thought so. I don’t know when it happened, but you became my love. I have been in love with you for who knows how long. I can’t pinpoint a time where I didn’t. It’s always been there. I’ve seen how you are with Charlotte. How you treasure her. It makes me fall in love with you even more. I know you love her. She loves you, too. She doesn’t give her heart away often, but she chose you and Christopher to give hers to. Please don’t break it."

Eddie felt a lone tear run down his cheek. He let a breathless sob.

“I love you. I love Charlotte. So much. I never want to break Charlotte’s heart. I have loved her from day one. You on the other hand, that took a couple of days."

Eddie connected their lips in a gentle kiss. They turned back to the waves.

“You know Charlotte has been bugging me about having a day out with just you. Would you be up to that?"


	8. Days Out

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: Have never been to LA, most of what is in this chapter is from online research.

Eddie had just piled Christopher into the truck. Christopher had his backpack resting next to him on the seat. He had a bright grin on his face. He was ready to spend the day with his Buck.

Eddie was taking Christopher to meet up with Buck and Charlotte. Eddie had spent time researching things for him and Charlotte to do together. He had tried to find something that he thought she’d enjoy and that he’d get to join in on.

Eddie didn’t even have any theories about what Buck had planned for Christopher. It could literally be anything. He was still obsessed with fish at the moment. Buck may take him to do something with fish, but that’s as far as he had gotten with his theories.

Once Eddie and Christopher got to Buck’s home, they’d be going separate ways to spend time with each other’s child. Eddie was a little nervous about spending the entire day alone with Charlotte. Buck had told him that she can get bored quickly, he really hoped he could keep her engaged long enough that she didn’t get bored.

Christopher was excited about what Buck had planned for him. It was all he could talk about since they told the kids a few days ago what they had planned. Chris kept trying to ask Buck where they were going, but Buck wouldn’t relent.

Buck and Eddie were each keeping it a secret from the kids what their plans were and from each other. They had given each other ideas of course, but the final activities were being hidden from each other.

Eddie pulled up to Buck’s house.

“You ready to spend the day with your Buck?"

“Yes! He hasn’t told me what we are doing yet. Has he told you?"

Eddie laughed. “I love you Christopher, but nice try kid."

Not that Christopher knew, but Eddie knew just as much as Christopher did and that was zilch.

_

It was now only just him and Charlotte now. Buck had Christopher had already left for their day out.

Charlotte still had her arm wrapped in a pale blue cast. She didn’t like having the cast on. It kept getting in the way. She didn’t like the way it itched. She still needed to have it on for a couple more weeks. She was counting down the days until she got it off.

“ _Dulce Niña,_ Lunch first or Zoo first?"

It was 11am Saturday morning. Eddie had brought the zoo tickets online and he was going to take Charlotte to feed the giraffes during the afternoon feeding slot. She had spoken about giraffes in depth before. He thought she’d get excited about getting the chance to feed them.

He hoped.

“Lunch please."

“What do you want for lunch? I’ll let you decide."

“Ice cream?" Charlotte sent him a cheeky grin. Eddie was watching her in the rear-view mirror. Eddie snorted out a laugh.

“Nice try. Your Daddy might just kill me."

Charlotte pursed her lips.

“Tacos, please Eddie?"

“I know just the place. Don’t tell Abuela I took you. It’s a secret."

His Abuela would chew him out about going to a Taco truck when he could just as easily make his own. Isabel had met Charlotte a couple of times in passing. Charlotte had already been adopted into the Diaz family. She had charmed Abuela within the first few minutes of meeting her. Same went for Buck. There was something about those Buckleys that just drew you in. Even Maddie was like that. He wasn’t as close to Maddie, but he would definitely call them friends.

Eddie found the taco truck he was looking for. Charlotte stood in front of the sign; Eddie had to read some of the menu off to her. She was trying to decide between two different ones. She looked to Eddie pleadingly. He helped her pick the one he’d thought she’d like more. They went and found a bench to sit at while they waited for their food.

“What is your favorite animal at the zoo?"

“Giraffes or Meerkats."

“Would you want to go feed the giraffes?"

Charlotte nodded excitedly. Her eyes had lit up. She hadn’t seen giraffes that close before. She had wanted to; her Dad had been unable to take her to the zoo recently. Her Dad had apparently last taken her when she was five, but she couldn’t remember it that much.

They sat eating their lunch while Charlotte kept up the conversation about the zoo animals. She spent five minutes going into depth about giraffes.

Charlotte had asked him if Eddie was his real name or a nickname. Even Buck hadn’t known the answer to that one until a few days ago. He found out when he had overheard Isabel calling him Edmundo. He had actually never thought to ask before hearing it. 

They had finished their lunch and got ready to head off to the zoo. They walked back to the truck. Charlotte was trying to figure out where she could wipe her hands.

“Charlotte, I have wipes in the truck. We’ll clean you up in a second."

Eddie had some wet wipes in the truck luckily. Charlotte had gotten some food on her face and hands. He had gently wiped Charlotte’s face free of the sauce smudges. He then took each of her hands and wiped them clean. He had to wipe down her cast. Eddie gently wiped around the edge of the cast. He didn’t want to end up hurting her accidently. Even Eddie had to wipe his hands using a wet wipe. The tacos were messy.

Eddie helped buckle Charlotte into the back seat of the truck. Eddie hopped into the driver's seat, buckled himself in and looked back at Charlotte.

“Are we all set to go to the zoo?"

“Yes!"

Eddie set off for the zoo. It was going to be a busy day. Since the sun was out and it was a weekend. Everyone would be taking their kids to the zoo.

Buck had packed Charlotte a backpack with a drink bottle, her hat, some extra sunscreen and a jacket just in case.

Eddie tried to keep Charlotte entertained on the drive to the zoo. He had his phone plugged into the car stereo and he and Charlotte belted out the words to some songs that Christopher had been obsessed with lately and made Eddie make a specific playlist on his phone for them to listen to on drives.

Eddie pulled into the parking lot.

“Right, you need your hat on."

“So, do you Eddie."

Luckily, he wanted to at least set a good example and brought his own hat. He didn’t wear hats often, but he at least had a semi stylish Trilby.

“I did bring mine. Did your Daddy pack yours?"

They were standing in the parking lot Eddie placed Charlotte’s children’s straw hat over her dark blonde waves. He adjusted the brim to make sure it wasn’t covering her eyes too much. Buck had done her hair up in a plait. Some strands had come loose and framed her face. From what he had seen her hair was a couple of inches past her shoulders. Buck had told him that he cried the first time she had her hair cut. She wanted to grow it out, which is why she only got trims now.

Buck had taught himself to cut her hair. Los Angeles hairdressers were just too expensive to go for just trims.

Eddie grabbed his own hat and placed it on his head. He grabbed his phone, wallet and sunglasses, he held out a hand to Charlotte. She grasped it tightly with her uninjured hand and they started walking towards the entrance.

Eddie showed the tickets on his phone.

“Where did we want to start?"

Eddie was letting Charlotte decide what she wanted to do today. She would choose a direction and he’d follow her lead. They were bent over a map of the zoo. Eddie gently gave some suggestions, but ultimately let Charlotte decide. Charlotte ended up deciding that she wanted to walk around the park and just stop at each exhibit before heading over to the giraffe feeding at 2pm. They first stopped in to look at the seals. Eddie lifted Charlotte up into his arms to give her a better view. There was a large crowd surrounding the exhibit. Some people were shoving to the front to get a better view.

It seems some adults were apparently just as rude to kids as they were to other adults. Charlotte had gotten bumped into a few times. Eddie may have growled at a few people and almost snapped at them. He managed to control himself, he didn’t want to scare Charlotte.

Charlotte decided she wanted to move on. She had at least gotten a view of the seals before people started shoving their way through. 

Eddie placed Charlotte onto the ground and grabbed onto her hand so they wouldn’t get separated. He definitely didn’t want to lose sight of her. How would he explain that to Buck? Eddie tightened his grip on Charlotte’s hand, and they kept moving through the crowds of people.

They walked across to the Alligators. Charlotte was a little wary of the Alligators. To her they looked a little scary. She couldn’t look away though. As she stared, she tucked herself in closer to Eddie. Eddie held onto her hand a little tighter. There were some animals out there that he was a little scared of. Especially snakes. Those were terrifying.

Charlotte tugged Eddie over towards the Meerkats. She wanted to get as close to the enclosure as they could. They had luckily managed to find a spot where they had a good view and they didn’t have to shove their way through. Charlotte wanted to stay longer looking at the Meerkats. But people had started to start getting angsty about not being able to see, so they had to move on.

Eddie had been taking photos of Charlottes reactions to send to Buck. Eddie thought Buck would want to have these sorts of photos. Buck had been collecting photos of Charlotte. Buck had been trying to put together a scrapbook of Charlotte for years. He had managed years 0-3 but hadn’t added to it since. He wanted to; he just didn’t have the time. He kept asking everyone who took photos of her to send them to him.

Eddie picked their next stop. He wanted to go see the Flamingos. Eddie pointed out that Flamingos are not born pink, that they are actually born with gray feathers. Their feathers turn pink because of their diet containing a natural pink dye. It was found in brine shrimp and blue green algae.

Eddie thought he could also turn this day out as somewhat of a learning experience. Charlotte loved animals, so he thought she would like to learn about each animal as they went.

Charlotte wanted to move onto the Swans after they saw the Flamingos. Eddie had found facts he had put into his phone about Swans. He had done his research before their trip. He had found facts about most of the animals they would see at the zoo. He told her that there was a Swan constellation called Cygnus. Or known as the Northern cross

“Let’s take a photo to send to Daddy." Eddie took out his phone and set the camera to selfie mode. He crouched down and pressed their faces together and took a photo to send off to Buck and Christopher.

Eddie showed Charlotte the picture before he sent it off to Buck. They kept on walking down the track. They came to a fork in the road. They now had to decide which way they wanted to go.

“Which way do you think we should do next? Left, or right? Or right down the middle?"

Charlotte tugged him towards the right.

“This way!" Charlotte laughed as they continued down the right hand path.

They came up to the Aviary and Charlotte wanted stop in and see the other birds. He was letting her lead him to most of the exhibits. He’d pick ones he wanted to show her, but mostly Charlotte picked where they were going. He had no other plans except feeding the giraffes with her. His whole plan was to keep her happy. This day was for her.

They wandered through the Aviary. Charlotte pointed out the different birds that she remembered from the last time she came to the zoo. There was a lot of squawking as they walked through the Aviary.

“Which one’s your favorite?"

“Ma. Ma-cor." She tried to sound out the letters. She was reading off a panel.

“Oh, the Macaws are pretty cool."

“They are pretty. I like the blue feathers." Charlotte got as close to the exhibit as she could.

They had been standing in front of the Macaw exhibit. They were pretty loud. You definitely heard them before you saw them.

“Owls have always been my favorite. When I was little my Dad used to read me Winne the Pooh books and I always loved Owl. For a long time, I wanted an owl as a pet. I was never allowed one. Instead, we had a dog."

After circling the Aviary, they kept heading up the path where they stopped in to see the foxes. Charlotte saw the Lemurs up ahead and wanted to see them.

They moved quickly. Charlotte had been fascinated by the baby that was clinging onto one of the Lemur’s backs. She looked mesmerized. She hadn’t even noticed when Eddie had taken out his phone and took a few pictures of her.

They continued walking and found another path and had a look at the Jaguars. Charlotte was captivated with the way Jaguars moved. Eddie knew that she loved cats. She had been trying to sweet talk Buck into getting her a cat. He hadn’t caved, yet.

“Eddie, can we sit down. I’m thirsty."

Eddie looked around for a bench for them to sit on in some shade. Charlotte’s legs were also getting a little tired. Eddie handed Charlotte her drink bottle, she had a few sips before handing it back. They watched other families walking passed them heading onto the next exhibits.

“Eddie? Can we go see the tigers?" Charlotte looked at Eddie from under her eyelashes. There was no way he could say no to her puppy dog eyes that Eddie swears she got that ability from Buck.

“I’m following your lead today. Come on then, Miss Charlotte."

“Can I have a piggyback ride?" She grinned cheekily at him. Eddie let out a dramatic joking sigh. He shrugged off the backpack and helped Charlotte put it onto her back. He then let Charlotte jump onto his own back, making sure she didn’t whack the back of his head with her cast accidently.

They spent the next hour looking at the tigers, the bears, the hippos. They stopped by the Monkey exhibit before heading onto the Ostriches and the Gazelles. Eddie had to put Charlotte down between the Bears and the Monkeys. He’d probably end up being roped in again later.

Eddie checked his phone to make sure they weren’t going to be late to go get tickets to feed the giraffes.

They had a quick bathroom break before heading over to feed the giraffes. They had twenty minutes to make their way over before the next lot of feedings started.

They got to the giraffe enclosure after stopping in quickly to see the Lions.

Charlotte didn’t want to stand, so she roped Eddie into carrying her while they waited for the feedings to start. He had to get the tickets for them both to feed the giraffes. They stood in a line waiting there was only a few minutes until the feeding started.

“Your daughter is adorable." An older woman told him sweetly. She was standing in line with who Eddie thought was her grandson. 

“Oh. Um. Thank you. Her father and I like to think so."

“Is he with you today?"

“Uh no. He’s taking our son out for the day and I am taking little miss here."

Charlotte was watching him curiously. He didn’t want to claim Charlotte as his own if she wasn’t ok with it. He had been thinking of her as his daughter since… He doesn’t exactly know when. Maybe from the start.

He and Buck had only been dating a couple of weeks. It had just seemed like way longer. Eddie didn’t think they were anywhere near having that conversation. How do you bring up that sort of conversation? Was it something they could talk about right now?

They finally opened up the feedings. Once Eddie was at the front of the queue. He paid for the tickets for the two of them to feed the giraffes together. He was going to make sure to get a tonne of pictures to send to Buck. Even get a few of the ones they took today printed.

Eddie was snapping pictures of Charlotte giggling in delight at the giraffe taking the food from her open hand. Eddie asked a kind stranger to take a few photos of the two of them feeding the giraffes.

Eddie slipped his phone back in his pocket as they were leaving the giraffe exhibit. Charlotte’s cheeks were flushed pink and her eyes bright and sparking. It was definitely worth it just to see her smile.

They finished looking around the rest of the enclosures that they missed on their way to the giraffe exhibit.

“Eddie?"

“Yeah. Mija."

“Did you want to be my other Dad?"

_

“Alright Superman. We are headed to Santa Monica Pier today. Then we’ll go have some lunch."

Eddie and Charlotte were still sitting in Eddie’s truck when Buck and Christopher had set off. Charlotte had been so excited all morning. She was too excited to go to bed last night. He had to read her an extra few chapters before she would go to bed.

Eddie told him that Charlotte would need her hat, comfortable sneakers, a drink bottle and some sunscreen.

Eddie hadn’t told him where he was taking her. They had agreed not to. They trusted each other enough to have each other’s child for the day. It wasn’t like they wouldn’t keep in contact throughout the day. They’d send each other photos and messages to keep each other in the loop.

Buck drove them to Santa Monica Pier. Christopher had kept up the chatter about his favorite Superheroes. He had tried guessing what Buck’s favorite Superhero was. Buck liked a few different ones, but he did like Iron Man. Christopher had always found it hard to pick one. He like Superman, Spiderman and Iron Man like Buck.

“What did you want to do first? The rides or we could go to the Aquarium?"

“Aquarium, please Bucky." Buck walked alongside Christopher down to the Aquarium. Buck just had to pay for himself as Christopher wasn’t quite eight yet and 12 and unders were free.

They first went over to the touch tanks. It was strange feeling the different textures of the creatures they had in the tanks. Buck hadn’t been to this Aquarium before. He had taken Charlotte to a couple of other ones, but they hadn’t gotten around to coming to this one yet.

Christopher favorites to hold onto and feel were the starfish. He seemed to like the ridges along the starfish’s arms. Buck mostly just watched Christopher dip his hands into the water and gently touch what creatures they had.

They looked at the Swell Sharks, the Stingrays and the Red Octopus. Buck liked watching the Sea Horses. He had always been weirdly captivated by them. It was peaceful watching them swim around. Buck had always been fond of seahorses. He had found it cool that the males were the ones to birth the young.

In the Aquarium there were also Jellyfish and all different species of fish swimming around. They didn’t talk much while going around the Aquarium. They just made the occasional comment to each other. It was peaceful. They could hear some sounds coming from above them on the pier, but it was still nice just to wander. 

Like Charlotte, Christopher was a little obsessed with Finding Nemo and Find Dory.

Christopher saw and loved the murals of the Dolphins. Buck had wanted to do something related to dolphins for this day out, but he couldn’t find a lot. He’d have find a time to take Christopher Dolphin watching. 

They had a creepy looking Eel in a tank. Christopher was interested in just watching it for a moment. Buck was standing back a little. Ok, maybe he was standing quite far back. There was something about it the eel that just made him a little uncomfortable.

Buck got a little creeped out. Maybe more than a little. Which is why when Christopher went to say something to Buck, he couldn’t find Buck next to him. He turned around and saw Buck standing a bit back looking sheepish.

They didn’t spend long at Heal The Bay Aquarium. Christopher decided he wanted to go on the rides and play some games. They had seen pretty much everything in the Aquarium anyway.

The first ride they went on was the Shark Frenzy. Christopher seemed to be enjoying the spinning motion of the ride. Luckily, Buck didn’t have motion sickness anymore. He used to get it as a child. That hadn’t been fun. He mostly used to get motion sickness on family road trips. The movement of the car going around twisting roads repeatedly made him hot and dizzy. He thankfully must have grown out of it. He was definitely glad about that.

It wouldn’t have been great to get motion sickness as a firefighter. 

Buck brought them each some Candy Floss. Christopher had picked the pink one and Buck got blue.

“Don’t want to overindulge too much. We still need to go have lunch later."

Buck and Christopher went and took photos in the photobooth. They spent the time pulling funny faces. Christopher had been laughing uncontrollably at some of the faces Buck had been pulling.

They found a bench and sat down together to look over the photos.

“I like this one."

Christopher pointed to the first photo from the photobooth. They were squished up together and grinning at the camera. Buck had his arms wound tightly around Christopher.

“We’ll have to frame it."

After that, the photos progressively got sillier.

“What do you think your Dad and Charlotte are up to? Do you think they are having more fun than us?"

Christopher shook his head, laughing.

“No. We are having much more fun."

Chris decided he wanted to go on the rollercoaster next. Christopher climbed off the bench. He tapped Buck’s arm and pointed towards the line for the rollercoaster.

“Bucky. Let’s go."

Buck’s phone beeped with a message. Eddie had sent him a picture of him and Charlotte with their faces pressed together.

“Chris look. Your Dad sent us a picture. Should we send one back?"

Buck handed over his phone to Christopher. Buck crouched down and took a photo to send to Eddie and Charlotte.

They had to wait a few more minutes until it was their turn on the rollercoaster.

They were strapped in next to each other.

“Ready?"

The ride was over quickly. It didn’t have any loops. It was more just twists and turns.

“Buck. Can we please go play some games?"

“Sure Bud. What do you want to play?"

“The water shooting game!"

Once they had made their way over to the stall Buck had stepped into position behind Christopher, they worked together to win Christopher a large brown teddy bear with a bow around its neck.

“Charlotte is going to be so jealous." Buck laughed. She definitely would she loved teddy bears. Buck had to learn to say no to her. Otherwise, she’d have a full room of stuffed animals.

They found a bench to sit on. Christopher was stood up on the bench with Buck holding onto the back of his shirt.

“Ever think about what you want to do with your life? What you want to be when you grow up?"

“Astronaut or a Pirate."

“Some good choices. Cool outfits too."

“No, wait. A Firefighter."

Buck smiled. Christopher was looking out into the ocean.

“When I was little, I wanted to be a Doctor like my Dad. Instead, I studied to be a firefighter."

“What sort of doctor? Dad was a sort of Doctor in the army."

Buck knew that. Eddie had spoken a little about it when they first met and then on their date. It definitely came in handy on calls. Sometimes he would assist Hen and Chimney out on Med calls where not everyone was needed.

“I wanted to be a pediatrician like my Dad. No matter how much I wanted to be a doctor as a child. I wanted to be a firefighter more."

Buck had asked Eddie if he would ever train more and become a firefighter paramedic. Apparently, it wasn’t something Eddie had thought about all that much. He might decide to within the next couple of years, but for now he was happy as he was.

“Do you want to go on any other rides, or should we go have some lunch?"

Christopher sat down next to Buck.

“We haven’t done the Ferris Wheel."

Christopher pointed out. That’s right, that was the one ride that they hadn’t gone on yet. There was also one ride they couldn’t go on as Buck was apparently too tall for it. That got Christopher hysterically laughing at him. Buck had been a little offended. So, what if he was a little tall?

It’s not his fault he was slightly taller than average. Blame his genetics. But even then, he was taller than his Dad by a couple of inches.

“Alright. Ferris Wheel it is."

Buck and Christopher made their way over to the line for the Ferris Wheel. He hadn’t been on this one in years. Years ago, when Charlotte was a toddler, he and Ali had a date out to Santa Monica Pier. Buck had tried to reconnect with her. It was just after she started pulling away from him and Charlotte after Charlotte’s diagnosis.

Carla had taken her for the day so he and Ali could get out of the house with just the two of them.

Buck thought the Pier would be fun. Ali had been more interested in her phone that day. No matter how hard Buck tried to keep her attention, she didn’t seem to care. She just kept brushing him off. It was like she was just there because she had to be to keep up appearances.

Buck and Christopher rode the Ferris Wheel they were playing I Spy as the wheel went around.

“I Spy somewhere to go to lunch."

After they got off the Ferris Wheel, they decided to walk over to the small burger restaurant. Buck had found out about it while he was doing research for things to do with Chris. It wasn’t too far to walk at least. Well, Buck walked. Christopher talked him into a piggyback ride for the walk there. Buck had compromised if Buck piggybacked him there, then Christopher had to walk back. Buck was holding onto Christopher’s crutches, while Chris clung to his neck.

Buck weaved through the crowds of people on the street.

It didn’t take them very long to make it to Burger Lounge. They found a table for two and sat down.

Buck ordered a Quinoa Vege Burger with a side of fries and a Hibiscus Lemonade. Chris ordered a small Cheeseburger off the kids menu which came with a side of fries, a drink and an ice cream.

“Ok kid. Favorite movie."

“Finding Dory or maybe Dinosaur."

“Both are good choices. Mine has to be the Lion King."

Their food was brought to their table. It wasn’t a warm day outside. It was nearing winter, which meant the weather was getting cooler. The sun was still out, but it wasn’t as warm as it usually was.

“What makes you happy?"

“Dad." Christopher grinned at Buck.

“That can’t be all? You must have other things that make you happy. Not just your Dad."

“My Bisabuela, you. Charlotte. School. Hugs. Drawing. Watching movies with you, Dad and Charlotte."

Buck had finished half his burger and most of his fries.

“What about you Bucky? What makes you happy?"

“Charlotte. She had always made me happy. My sister Maddie. My job makes me happy. My family at the 118. My parents. You and your Dad have made me and Charlotte so happy. Thank you for making us so happy."

They finished their lunches and Buck took Christopher into the bathrooms to use the toilet and wash his hands.

“Home time? We can watch a movie together while we wait for your Dad and Charlotte to get home."

Christopher and Buck walked side by side back to the car and Buck drove them back to his place. Once they got back Christopher decided on a movie and they cuddled up together on the couch.

“Thank you, Buck. I had heaps of fun today."

“You’re welcome Superman. I had fun, too."

_

Buck and Christopher had fallen asleep together on the couch. They hadn’t heard Eddie and Charlotte get back. Buck heard the knock on the front door and dragged himself off the couch to open it. Christopher was still fast asleep with the movie credits playing in the background.

Buck opened the door and saw Eddie standing there with Charlotte in his arms.

“I think I tired her out."

Buck stepped aside and let Eddie put Charlotte in her bed. He carefully took off her shoes and pulled her blanket over her. He pressed a kiss to her forehead and stepped out of the room.

Buck was sat back on the couch. He had chosen a new movie to watch. Christopher was still asleep. He looked like he barely moved when Buck got up to answer the door.

“What should we watch?"

“Hmm, I just put something on. I could have a nap right now."

Buck had put some random children’s movie on just in case the kids woke up.

“What did you and Charlotte do today?"

Buck cuddled into Eddie’s side and rested their heads together.

“We had lunch, then we went to the zoo. I have some awesome pictures of her feeding the giraffes."

“Sound like you had a great time. Christopher and I went to Santa Monica Pier. First to the Heal The Bay Aquarium then we went on some rides and played some games. Then I took him to lunch. We came back a couple of hours ago to watch a movie."

“Next time, we do something as a family." Eddie murmured softly. He pressed a kiss to Buck’s lips sleepily. His eyes slid shut. Eddie definitely had the right idea. It was definitely time for a nap.

Who knew what was coming next? 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for the amazing support. 
> 
> I have decided I can't let go of Charlotte. I have planned out a new story with her in it. It isn't a sequel, but instead it is about Buck and Eddie meeting each other in the Pediatrics waiting room when Charlotte and Chris are three. 
> 
> They support each other through Charlotte's DCD diagnosis and Christopher's surgeries. 
> 
> And of course, fall in love along the way. I have planned for the story to be 15 chapters. It is sort of a slow burn. 
> 
> I'll be starting to write that once this is uploaded.


	9. Ali Sues For Custody

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for the support of this story. 
> 
> This chapters idea is actually one of the first I came up with while planning out the story. Hopefully, I've done it justice.

Buck and Eddie were sitting on the fire station couch in front of the television playing MarioKart. They had just come off a hard call involving children. They were trying to unwind after the call. They were all mostly distracted, Hen was talking to Karen and Denny. Chimney was texting Maddie, they had become friends after they had met at the BBQ. Bobby was in his office talking to Athena. 

Buck wanted to see Charlotte and Christopher and just hold them both tight. He was contemplating calling Carla to bring them by.

He and Eddie needed to see them.

It had only been a few days since Buck had taken Christopher out to the Pier and Eddie had taken Charlotte to the zoo.

Eddie had been wary to tell Buck that Charlotte had asked if Eddie if he wanted to be her other Dad.

Buck hadn’t been all that surprised. They had made themselves into a little family without even realizing it. Buck hadn’t realized that she had been thinking of Eddie as her other father. But it made complete sense. Eddie was there for her when her own mother hadn’t been.

If Charlotte wanted to call Eddie her other Dad, he was happy to let her. It wasn’t his decision, it had to be up to Charlotte.

“Babe. Come on Eddie seriously? Why did you have to Red Shell me?" Buck grumbled, shoving Eddie’s shoulder.

They had been trying to distract themselves from the call they had just gotten back from. It was sort of working.

“Because I can." Eddie cackled.

Buck wasn’t able to catch up in the race and ended up coming last.

“Uh Buck. There is someone here to see you?"

Buck turned to see who had come to see him. He hadn’t been expecting anyone. He didn’t know many people outside the station. He would have at least gotten a heads up if someone was coming to see him. 

What he hadn’t been expecting was Ali standing at the top of the stairs holding a folder in her hands.

“Ali?"

Everyone here knew exactly what Ali had done to Buck and Charlotte. He had told them during his second week on the job. What reason would she have coming to the station after all these years? Eddie and Hen were watching the exchange warily.

“Hi Evan. I’m just here to drop these off."

Ali walked over and handed Buck some papers in a folder and turned and left. That was weird. Buck would have she would have stayed a little longer. Maybe to give him an explanation. They didn’t end things on good terms. Well, they didn't really get to end things properly anyway.

She left before they could even get to that point.

“Wait. What? Ali? Why are you here? What’s going on?"

Ali stood up straighter and kept on ignoring him and started walking out of the station faster. He jumped up off the couch to try and follow her. He hadn’t see her in years and now she comes back out of the blue? He thought he had seen her the day of the earthquake, but he had never confirmed if it had been her or not. None of this was making any sense.

Ali left the station in a hurry. It was like she didn't want to be around while Buck read the papers she had left him. 

He had a bad feeling about this.

“That was weird."

Buck muttered and sat back down and opened the folder. His eyes scanned the pages. His heart sank. He froze and his breaths started coming out in uneven gasps. The words on the page were becoming blurred. It didn't make any sense. Why now? 

“Buck? _Mi Amor._ What’s going on?" Eddie cupped Buck’s cheek. Buck couldn’t say it. He held out the papers to Eddie with a shaking hand.

Eddie gently took the papers out of Buck’s hand. His stomach filled with dread before he even got a chance to read the papers. He had a feeling he knew what was on these papers. From Buck's reaction he could guess. Something like this was his worst nightmare. 

Eddie started cursing in a mix of Spanish and English. No wonder Buck had a heartbroken look on his face. This must seem like an actual nightmare to Buck. What the hell was Ali thinking? That she could abandon them for 4 years and then decide she changed her mind. She had to be delusional.

“What the hell is going on?" Bobby came out of his office looking confused. He heard Eddie cursing loudly and came out to investigate. This wasn’t normal behavior for Eddie. What did he miss?

Buck looked like he was on the verge of a panic attack. Eddie was still cursing up a storm. He was also pacing with crumpled papers in his hands. Hen and Chimney were watching them confused. They were trying to ask what was going on?

Bobby heard the name Ali thrown out a couple of times. Bobby felt a sense of dread wash over him. Why did Ali decide to show up now?

“Ali has decided she wants to be Charlotte’s Mom, again. She’s suing for custody."

Eddie answered for Buck. Buck was still processing what had just happened in the last five minutes. It was like he had lost his ability to speak. 

Bobby looked devastated.

There was no way they were going to let Ali take away Charlotte from Buck. Ali had no right to come and demand custody of Charlotte. She was the one to abandon Charlotte and Buck.

Why did she want Charlotte now when she didn’t years ago?

“I’m going to call Athena."

Bobby swiftly walked back into his office to make a call to Athena. They needed her there urgently to try defuse the situation. They needed her advice on how to proceed. 

Buck wanted to run to Charlotte and just wrap her in his arms and never let her go. His baby might be taken from him. Why now? What happened that made Ali want Charlotte back so badly that she had to sue for custody? Buck’s mind was racing with possible scenarios. If she wanted Charlotte so badly, why didn’t she take Charlotte from him in the first place?

That had been one of his recurring nightmares for the last few years. 

“You know we won’t let Ali take Charlotte away from you. We are going to help you fight this no matter what."

“Why now? After over three years. Why would she do this now?"

“I don’t know how to answer that one."

“I need to see my baby. I need to hold her."

Buck looked frantic. His breaths were coming in shallow gasps. He could feel a panic attack coming on.

“She’s at school for another hour. How about we ask Carla if she can bring Charlotte and Christopher to the station?"

“Ok." Buck muttered. That would have to do for now. He wouldn’t relax until he saw Charlotte.

Hen was watching them heartbroken. When Eva threatened to take Denny away it had never gotten this far. She had been heartbroken and terrified that she was going to lose her son. They needed to be there for Buck now. He and Charlotte didn’t need this. Not when they were finally happy.

Eddie got up to call Carla. He pressed a kiss to Buck’s head and walked just off to the side.

Hen took over and held Buck against her. He hadn’t cried yet, but he wasn’t far off.

“It’s going to be ok, Buckaroo. We won’t give up without a fight. You aren't in this alone."

Bobby came back out of his office and announced Athena was on her way over.

“Carla has promised to bring the kids over right after school."

He just had to hold out till then. Then he could hold his babies.

_

“Daddy!" Charlotte squealed in excitement. She always loved coming to see her Dad at work.

Buck scooped her into his arms and squeezed her tightly. He had his face pressed into her neck. Tears finally broke free.

“Daddy? Why are you crying?" She brushed away his tears looking up at him with worried eyes.

Buck opened his mouth to answer her. How did he tell his daughter that her Mom wants her back, but only to take her away from him?

He didn’t need to treat her like a child right now. She had a right to know what was happening.

He held out his arm for Christopher to join in the hug with them. He could do this.

Buck brought Charlotte and Christopher over to the couch. Everyone else had left to give them some semblance of privacy. Eddie had sat down close to Buck. He needed to be there to give his boyfriend, whatever support he needed right now.

“Lottie. Your Mom came back today."

“What?" She looked confused. But her Mommy left years ago. It had been just her and her Dad ever since her Mom had left them.

“She decided she wants you back. But she wants to take you away from me."

“Daddy, no. I want to stay with you."

Charlotte barely remembered her Mom. The last two months before her Mom up and left, she barely had any time for Charlotte. She didn’t want to leave her Dad. Or Eddie. She didn’t want to be taken away from Christopher or Grandpa Bobby. She couldn’t leave Auntie Maddie not after finally seeing her again. Or Thena, Auntie Hen or Uncle Chimney. She didn’t want to be taken away from her family.

“Bucky, you can’t let her take Charlotte away from us." Christopher cried out. He knew that Charlotte could be taken away. He didn’t want that. She needed to be there with them.

“I’ll do everything I can to keep you with us."

_

He had gotten hold of Ali to set up a meeting to talk everything out. Buck needed to understand why she was doing this now and not when she left in the first place.

It didn’t make any sense to him.

She could have taken Charlotte then, but she had decided she didn’t want either of them anymore. What had made her change her mind? 

He was meeting Ali at Griffith Park. Hopefully they wouldn’t start screaming at each other. He didn’t want to get the police involved. This was between the two of them. They needed to work this out before Charlotte got hurt.

Ali was walking over to Buck who was sitting on a park bench.

“Evan. You wanted to talk?"

She sat down next to him. She was holding herself differently her body language was a lot more open than the last time he had seen her. She had definitely changed in the last few years since he had seen her last.

“Ali, why now?"

That’s really all he wanted to know. Ali hadn’t wanted Charlotte once she had found out about Charlotte having DCD. They had been told that it was a lifelong diagnosis when she was three. They knew it wouldn't just go away once she was older. It could only be managed. Charlotte still had to go to different therapy appointments to help her manage her DCD. She would probably have to until she was an adult or for the rest of her life. It was unpredictable. 

Buck didn’t think that Ali had really thought this whole thing through.

“Because she is my baby and I want her back. I’ve missed her a lot over the last few years. I don’t want to miss out on anything more with her."

“You’re the one who decided to leave us. Did you ever think about how Charlotte would feel about you being back after all these years? It has really confused her."

Ali didn’t even looked fazed. Did she think she could come and go as she pleased, and they’d welcome her back with open arms. She was completely wrong there. They had moved on. They had made a new family after she had left them.

“Yes, I decided to leave. I couldn’t handle being a Mom back then. She was just too much for me to handle. So, I left."

Buck couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“If I let you back into her life, what happens if you just decide you can’t handle it anymore and just up and leave again? It will crush her."

“I won’t. I don’t want to leave her again."

“How do you know that? You left the first time without a word. You had spent two months prior to that ignoring your daughter. She didn’t even know what she had done wrong. How was I supposed to explain to her that her Mom didn’t want her because of something she couldn’t control? How am I supposed to make the decision to let you back into her life or not? How do I know you are serious about this? You just left without another word again. What am I supposed to think anymore?"

Buck was working himself up. He was getting angry. He didn’t understand why Ali wanted back into Charlotte’s life. 

“I couldn’t handle her diagnosis."

“You knew the DCD is a lifelong diagnosis. We were told that when she was diagnosed. Did you completely forget that or something? She is always going to have it. It isn’t something that goes away."

Ali just sat and stared at Buck. Like she couldn’t quite comprehend what he was trying to tell her.

“But it is manageable right?"

“It is. But not without a lot of help. It takes a lot out of her. Can you handle her getting frustrated when she can’t get holding a pencil right? Or bumping into things? She is relearning how to use a knife and fork. What about tying her shoes? She gets frustrated doing little tasks. She goes to Speech Therapy but not as often. It is more of a just in case scenario. Occupational Therapy, Physical Therapy. A school for children with special needs. I have a home health care aid to help me out on the days I work. I have had to make a tonne of sacrifices for her. But I wouldn’t change her for anything. I won’t let you take my baby away from me."

Ali didn’t say anything more. She hadn’t been expecting that much to go into a looking after a child with DCD. She should have done her own research when they had first found out. She just heard the word disorder and bailed before researching what it even meant. Dyspraxia sounded scary to her. She couldn’t handle it. So, she just ran without even trying. 

“Can I at least see her sometime?"

Ali asked quietly. Maybe seeing her would make things different. Seeing her may help her see that her daughter still can be normal.

“It isn’t up to me. She can make up her own mind if she wants to see you or not."

Buck decided to give her the benefit of the doubt and offered an olive branch to her.

“How about I ask her if she would be willing to see you? I’ll give you a call either way."

“Can she still be a normal child with her diagnosis?" Ali blurted out. She saw Buck’s face and he looked terrifying. Why did she have to say that? He had just offered her an olive branch and she had to go and ruin it.

_

Buck had asked Charlotte if she wanted to see Ali. Buck was furious with Ali. Her final comment she had made had filled him with a rage he had never felt before. He had to cool off before seeing Charlotte. He hadn’t wanted her to see him like that. He hated being so angry. It wasn’t him at all.

_

Buck could tell Charlotte was conflicted. Buck wasn’t going to try influence Charlotte's decision in any way. He wanted to keep Charlotte as far away from Ali as he could, but it wasn’t up to him.

Charlotte decided that she wanted to see her.

She wanted her Dad to be there with her. She didn’t want to face her Mom alone. It was scary. She didn’t remember her much. She was too little to remember some things.

Athena had helped him get a lawyer to fight for custody if it ended up going to court. Athena wasn’t going to let Charlotte be taken away from them.

_

Buck had set up a meeting between Ali and Charlotte. They were waiting at the park for her. Buck was pushing Charlotte on the swings while they waited. Charlotte had been a little nervous. She hadn’t seen her Mom in years and now she was going to be seeing her again soon.

They waited around the park for an hour, Ali hadn’t turned up yet. Did she feel guilty about saying those things about Charlotte?

_

She had stood them up. She wasn’t coming.

Charlotte wanted to wait around for another hour. Maybe she was just running late.

Buck knew she wasn’t running late. How was he supposed to tell Charlotte that her Mom just wasn’t coming?

They ended up waiting another hour before Buck had put his foot down and taken Charlotte home. It wasn’t fair to her that she had to wait around for someone who wasn’t coming. Charlotte spent the ride home in tears.

It had broken his heart.

_

After not turning up at the park, Ali had all but pleaded to see Charlotte to make up for not coming. She had apologized profusely for saying those things about Charlotte. Buck was still angry about it.

Buck ended up deciding that he was going to let Ali see Charlotte. He thought he’d give Ali the benefit of the doubt and let her make up not turning up at the park.

_

The case ended up being dropped by Ali.

“We can’t get hold of Ms. Martin. She has disconnected her number. She wasn’t at the address she left. We don’t have any way to contact her. We think she has left the state."

Ali had left.

She had run again. Charlotte never got a chance to see her Mom before she hightailed it out of LA.

Buck had to now tell Charlotte that her Mom had left again.

How was he supposed to tell her?

_

Charlotte had been spending the day with Christopher and Eddie. Buck was meant to be meeting them for lunch. The plan had been to bring Ali over to Eddie’s place to meet Charlotte. That wasn’t happening anymore. 

He was now heading over alone.

Buck pulled up to Eddie’s place and sat in the car for a few moments.

He could do this.

He just had to keep reminding Charlotte that he was never going to leave her. She still had him, Eddie and Christopher. She also had her Grandpa Bobby and Thena. Auntie Maddie, Auntie Hen and Uncle Chimney weren’t going anywhere either.

His phone beeped in the cup holder.

_You ever coming in? You’re lucky the kids haven’t noticed yet. xx_

Buck smiled sadly and hopped out of the car. Eddie met him at the front door and pressed a gentle kiss to his lips and wrapped him in a hug. Eddie pulled back and looked behind Buck.

“How did the meeting go?"

Buck didn’t know how to answer.

“She left. Didn’t she?"

“Yeah, she did. Without a word to anyone. Again. God, how do I tell Charlotte her Mom left her again?"

Eddie wrapped Buck back into his arms.

“We just have to keep reminding her that she is loved. It isn’t her fault that her Mom left her. And that none of us are going anywhere."

“You’re right." Buck held out his hand and Eddie wove their fingers together and went to find Charlotte.

They’d show her how much she was loved by them. They didn’t need Ali in their lives. Charlotte had everything she needed with them, Christopher and the 118.

She had her family right here and they never wanted to let her go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just the Epilogue left now. I have started writing my next story. It is slowly going. It probably needs a lot of reworking what I've already written.


	10. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is the final chapter. Thank you everyone who read this story. I have loved writing it. This chapter has gone through a few rewrites. I changed the idea three times. I had finally settled on this idea, the editing of it changed a lot. But I am glad I got it finished. 
> 
> I am not saying goodbye to Charlotte yet. 
> 
> My next story with Charlotte is coming along, I came to a bump in the road. The chapter wasn't working for me. I couldn't get the chapter to move forward so I decided to change the idea of the chapter. 
> 
> I finished that chapter and have now moved onto chapter 4. 
> 
> At the end of this story I will be posting a small excerpt from the second chapter of Growing Together.
> 
> I will post updates about the progress of the story on the Buddie tag under my username @angeldawnnimbus on Tumblr. 
> 
> Thank you all.

It had been a year since Ali had left again without another word.

Buck had stumbled through telling Charlotte that her Mom had left her again. How was he supposed to tell her? Charlotte didn't quite get it as Buck was telling her. He had to stop and start a few times as he was getting upset with trying to tell her. Eddie had to step in, and he gently told her what had happened. He could see the emotions flicker across her face, then her eyes had welled up with tears. 

It had broken Eddie to see Charlotte cry for her mother that didn't want her. How could Ali not want this sweet girl? It didn't make any sense to Eddie at all. 

Eddie had been furious after Buck had told him about what Ali had said about Charlotte. How could people think like that? There was nothing wrong with Charlotte. What was normal anyway? Just because she struggled with things, it didn’t mean she couldn’t do things the same as other children.

_

Charlotte had been coping. She had been more clingy with family in the few months after Ali had left again. It had been completely understandable. She already had abandonment issues, but Ali had made them worse by coming back and leaving again after promising to come and see her.

They hadn’t heard from Ali again since.

Buck had always made sure to spend as much time with Charlotte as he could. He liked the quiet moments with her. They would cuddle together on his bed watching a movie, or he'd read her a book. There were even just times they'd just lie down and rest. 

Bobby had demanded that Buck bring Charlotte to the station so he could see her. He needed to see that she was still there with them. 

She had almost been taken away from them, he had wanted to remind himself that they didn't lose her. 

She had started to believe that they weren't going to leave her. She was happier now, she had started to move on. 

_

About two months ago Buck and Eddie had brought a house together and the four of them had moved in together. It hadn't been a hard decision to make. They knew they wanted to have a home for the four of them. It had taken them some time, but they had found a house that had been perfect for them.

It was home. 

_

Eddie had been thinking about this for a while. He wasn't all for grand gestures, those were more Buck's forte.

He wanted to try. 

He wanted to show Buck how much he loved him and wanted to be with him. As long as Buck would have him.

He needed some help. 

_

He had taken Charlotte and Christopher out for an early dinner after school. He had given Carla the afternoon off so he could take them out to talk to them about his plans.

Also, to get their input.

He didn’t really have any more ideas on how to go about asking Buck to marry him. He wanted to make it memorable.

“I need your help with something."

Charlotte and Christopher stopped eating and looked at him curiously. 

“With what Papá?"

They had decided that Buck was going to be Dad or Daddy and Eddie was going to be Papà. Christopher was still trying to get into the habit of calling his Dad, Papà now. 

Charlotte took a sip of her drink and blinked up at him.

“I am going to ask your Daddy to marry me."

Charlotte lit up with excitement. She and Christopher threw themselves into Eddie’s arms excitedly. Eddie had to readjust them, so he was holding onto both of them properly.

He wasn’t as scared now. He had his babies with him. He’d be able to do this.

He really hoped Buck said yes. 

_

Eddie had thought of proposing at the fire station, but he scrapped that idea when he had a thought. What if the alarm goes off in the middle of my proposal?

Did he really want everyone at the fire station to be watching the proposal.

What did he actually want?

Eddie, Charlotte and Christopher decided it should be at home. To be just them.

They’d surprise everyone later.

While Buck was still on shift, they set out to decorate their backyard.

They did have to run out and get some solar fairy lights as they didn't really have any to work with. 

Charlotte had also wanted fairy lights to decorate her new room. They found some pretty star shaped fairy lights while they were out. Eddie would put them up later under Charlotte's guidance. 

_

Eddie climbed up on their ladder to start dressing the trees in strands of lights. He’d have to keep Buck out of the backyard long enough for the sky to get dark.

He didn’t think he had ever done a grand gesture like this before. Even when he and Shannon had gotten engaged, the proposal was nothing like this. It was more like ‘you’re pregnant. We should get married’. There was nothing romantic about it.

He wanted to put in the effort this time. He wanted to show Buck how much he loved him.

Even if he had to rope the kids into helping him. 

It had taken them a couple of hours before they finished setting up. Buck would be home soon. It would be dark not too long later.

Hopefully the lights ended up working for when he needed them. That would be just great if they didn’t work right when he got up the nerve.

It didn’t look like much at the moment, but once it was dark, it should light up the backyard.

_

“Bucky. Come and see what we did outside." Christopher tugged Buck towards the back door.

Eddie patted his pocket and made sure that the ring box was still there.

Charlotte slipped her hand into his and they walked out back. Buck and Christopher were standing in the center of the lawn looking at the lights that had lit up the trees around them.

They were working. Buck was looking around at the lights with a smile on his face. Eddie went and stood behind him and pulled the ring box out of his pocket, then slid down on one knee.

“You guys did a good job where is your-“ Buck froze when he saw Eddie kneeling in front of him.

“Oh." Buck breathed. He could feel tears prick his eyes. He blinked rapidly to try and remove them from his eyes.

“Evan. I couldn't leave our children out of this moment. They were what brought us together. Sure, we would have met properly at the 118 the next day, but I like how our story started. I love where our story is going. Our little family. I love you. I love Charlotte and of course I love Christopher. Will you marry me?"

Buck was grinning down at Eddie.

“I don’t know. Charlotte? Christopher? Do you think I should say yes?" Buck joked wetly.

“Daddy you have to say yes."

“Oh, I do. Do I?" Buck laughed, wiping away a lone tear that had slipped out.

“Yes. Of course, I’ll marry you. If I don’t, they’ll never let me live it down."

“Is that the only reason you are saying yes?" Eddie quipped.

“You know it’s not. Now get up here." Buck pulled Eddie up and wrapped his arms around him tightly. Buck brushed their lips together and pulled away to look into Eddie’s eyes. He could feel Eddie slipping a ring onto his finger.

He could hear Charlotte and Christopher chattering excitedly in the background.

Eddie could feel Charlotte, hug onto his waist tightly. He vaguely heard her say Love you Papà. It wasn’t the first time she had said it. It would always melt his heart every time he heard it.

The first time it had happened was not long after Ali had left the second time. He had cried that first time. He hadn't been expecting it. He hadn't been expecting to ever find Buck and Charlotte. He thought it would only ever be just him and Christopher. 

At this moment. He wasn’t able to take his eyes away from Buck.

_

They decided to get married a few months later. They didn’t want or need a large wedding. All they needed was Charlotte and Christopher, but the rest of the 118 had gotten involved.

After they had found out Buck and Eddie were engaged, they went into planning mode.

Buck and Eddie had put their foot down and they decided to have their wedding at home. The lights had been kept up from the proposal. The ceremony was going to be held at night to make the most of the fairy lights. It was only going to be a short and simple ceremony.

They didn’t need much more than that.

They also decided that on their wedding day that they’d finally make the adoptions official. Ali had ended up signing away her parental rights not long after she had left the second time. She was completely out of their lives.

She never tried to see Charlotte again. She had just wanted a completely clean slate.

Buck hadn’t had any more contact with her. Everything had gone through a lawyer.

_

During the ceremony Buck had Charlotte standing up with him and Eddie had Christopher. 

Buck's parents had finally made the trip out for the ceremony. They weren't going to miss it. They had been excited to hear that Buck was finally getting married. Elijah and Evelyn had fallen in love with Eddie and Christopher. They saw how much Eddie adored Buck. They never strayed far from one another. 

They hadn’t seen Charlotte in a couple of years, and they were excited to finally see her again. She had grown up so much. They had to fight Bobby for Charlotte's attention. Bobby always hated letting Charlotte go. 

Buck and Charlotte had finally gotten to meet Helena and Ramon officially. They had fallen in love with Charlotte immediately. She knew how to charm anyone. Buck and Charlotte had been welcomed into the Diaz family with open arms.

_

They decided to hyphenate their last names after the ceremony.

They had spoken to Charlotte and Christopher to ask them if they wanted to have their last names changed to be the same as their parents. That was apparently a given. 

They would need to get all their legal documents changed. It was going to be a lot of paperwork.

Buck had a massive dislike for paperwork. He usually tried to avoid doing paperwork while he was on shift. It seemed like he could never get away from it.

It didn’t matter about the paperwork. It would all be worth it once it was done.

_

Buck and Charlotte’s lives had changed once they had met Eddie and Christopher. They never thought that they’d have that again. After Ali had left the first time it had crushed them. Buck hadn’t known how to move on. He had to be there for Charlotte. But he had also been struggling with being abandoned.

After he had found the 118 things had gotten easier, but he still wasn’t complete.

There had been something about Eddie that day. Trying to make himself invisible. Eddie had been right if they hadn’t met during school pick up, they would have met the next day at work. They were always supposed to meet. That’s what mattered.

Buck would never regret saying yes to Eddie. Both times.

They had their own little family now.

After everything Buck and Charlotte had been through if it always led them here.

Then it was worth it.

Charlotte just with blue eyes and lighter dark blonde hair. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for reading. Thank you all for the support you have given this story. I have appreciated it. 
> 
>   
> Chapter 2: Growing Together Excerpt:
> 
> He was trying to keep himself calm. He knew that babies could feel their parent’s stress. He had tried everything to soothe her. Cuddled her, tried to distract her, rock her, talk to her. He even tried singing to her. If anything, that made her cry more. 
> 
> He was about to get up and start pacing when he felt a gentle hand on his shoulder. 
> 
> “Hey Man. Do you need a hand?" Buck head shot up. There was a young man who looked to be late twenties maybe early thirties. He was holding a young boy who looked to be Charlotte’s age.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading. 
> 
> Again, if I have gotten anything wrong please tell me and I can change it. 
> 
> I haven't said before, but every Kudos and Comment I get makes me smile. I don't write for the comments or the Kudos but they are always nice to get. I do appreciate the support you all give my works.


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